NAIROBI, Kenya, May 8 – A hat trick from Timothy Otieno secured Nyanza a 4-1 victory over North Eastern on day one of the COPA Coca Cola provincials at City Stadium on Saturday.
Lawrence Nyaranga added the extra for Nyanza with Hassan Abdi scoring the lone goal in the for the team from Northern Kenya.
Abdi Salam put his team ahead in the sixth minute after dribbling two defenders and calmly to open the scoring.
Nyanza changed tact and took the game to their rivals.Their efforts bore fruit when Nyaranga scored the equalizer with the quarter hour mark approaching.
Otieno doubled the lead after breaking the offside trap to score a well taken goal after combining well with Nyaranga.
Nyanza’s third goal came as a result of a defensive lapse from North Eastern. North Eastern had a goal in the second half disallowed after Abdi Salam fouled the goalkeeper in the build up.
The curtain raiser match between Thika Queens and Laiser from Naivasha ended in a 5-3 in favour of Laiser.
Laiser’s Millicent Karani scored a hat trick with other goals coming from Alice Njeri and a penalty from Adan Maco in the 60th minute.
Thika queens put up a good fight and had goals scored by Wincate Kaari during the 22nd minute, and during the 29th and 41st minutes the goals were scored by Caroline Auma and Gladys Njeri respectively.
There were more than 3000 fans that came for the opening ceremony. The matches will be played through out next week with the finals being held on Saturday 15th May.
On Monday, Coast will play Western Provinces, at 10am, Nairobi take on Eastern at 1pm and Rift Valley lock horns with Central Province at 3pm. The eight teams are from each province in Kenya.