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Leopards floor City Stars, Mathare strike down Thika


Bernard Mang’oli struck twice, his second goal coming deep in stoppage time, to earn AFC Leopards a priceless 2-1 win over Nairobi City Stars in a Kenyan Premier League match on Sunday at the Nyayo National Stadium.

It was sweet victory for Ingwe who had to rally from a goal down to grab all the three points.

Mang’oli’s first goal came from the penalty spot in the 64th minute after Willian Kijiwa felled Michael Khamati in the box.

City Stars had grabbed the lead in the 23rd minute when Robert Ndung’u completed his mazy run with an angled shot past Ingwe custodian Lucas Indeche.

However, City Stars’ technical bench and players were left furious by what they termed as poor officiating, claiming Khamati had dived for Leopards’ penalty.

“What should I say? Anybody who watched the match saw that Khamati dived. Why favour one team? My boys’ spirit was killed by that clumsy call. That is injustice,” City Stars coach Gabriel Njoroge protested after the match.

City Stars have for long been a bogey team for Leopards and on Sunday they again made life  difficult for Ingwe, especially in the first half.

RULED OFFSIDE

But even as desperation crept in among their fans, Leopards stuck to their game plan in pursuit of an equaliser.

They came close to drawing level five minutes to the break when Eric Masika nodded home from a free kick only for his effort to be ruled offside.

Earlier at the same venue, Mathare United crushed Thika United 2-0 to move to position nine on the log on 25 points, swapping places with their opponents who have an equal number of points but with an inferior goal difference.

Former Gor Mahia striker, Edwin Lavatsa, played a starring role, scoring one for Mathare and setting up the other.

Lavatsa, who has been out of action for long, made his return to local football with an impressive display against Gor Mahia 10 days ago.

On Sunday, he scored the match opener in the 22nd minute before winning a penalty, which was converted by veteran defender Noah Abich.

At the Kisumu County Stadium, hosts Western Stima failed to capitalise on home advantage as they were held to a barren draw by Nakuru All Stars.

“We played well but to my disappointment we only managed a point. Credit to their goalkeeper for keeping them in the game,” Stima coach Henry Omino said after the match.