NAIROBI, November 15 – David King’atua netted twice to send Bandari FC to the finals of the GOtv Shied after the Dockers thrashed Muhoroni Youth 4-1 in the semis at Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday.
Center half Mohammed Shariff opened the scoring for Bandari after eight minutes of play before Ugandan Musa Mudde doubled the lead in the 53rd.
King’a tua a former Nairobi City Stars and Thika United attacker notched a brace to complete Bandari’s goals as Edmond Murai gave Muhoroni the consolation a minute to stoppage time.
Muhoroni head coach, James Omondi said they struggled to adjust after arriving from Kisumu County an hour before the match.
This was after there was a dispute on the match venue between the two sides with Muhoroni insisting the game to be played in Kisumu while Bandari on the other hand maintained the fixture was meant to be hosted at Nyayo National stadium.
But in the end, Muhoroni had to depart this morning by road for five hours drive after Football Kenya Federation informed them the match will be played in Nairobi.
“We got a report last night at 7pm that the game was to be played in Nairobi but we couldn’t make to travel at night. All along we knew the match was scheduled for Kisumu. We departed Kisumu at 9am and arrived an hour to kick-off.
“We had to learn to adjust and focus because we knew it was all intimidation but unfortunately it didn’t go our way because of fatigue,” Omondi who officially replaced outgoing head coach, Paul Nkata, underlined.
On his part, Bandari tactician, Twahir Muhiddin said they could not travel to Kisumu since the match was initially scheduled for Nyayo.
“We followed the fixture that the federation sent us which indicated the match is in Nairobi so we had to travel two days before.”
Bandari drew the first blood in the opening five minutes through captain, Shaban Kenga who pulled a ferocious shot that forced keeper, Faruk Shikalo to tip over for the corner.
The resultant corner bore fruits as Mohammed nodded home to break the deadlock.
Muhoroni’s effort to level matters was thwarted after Mudde cleared a Francis Ocholla goal bound off the line.
Custodian Wilson Obungu came to Bandari’s rescue at the half hour mark to block George Mandela’s shot who had done well to beat a defender on the left.
The Docker’s survived scare after Wycliffe Ochomo was denied twice, first by the post before David Gateri cleared his rebound off the line.
Muhiddin charges returned on a high to score two quick goals in a span of three minutes to extend the lead.
Mudde doubled the scores after his shot took a deflection off Yusuf Mohammed into the back of the net before King’atua added the third three minutes later with a thunderbolt shot from outside the area into the top right corner.
King’atua completed his brace 10 minutes to the final whistle after curling a left foot shot into the top corner to seal the win but with a minute to added time, Murai ensured that there was no clean sheet for Obungu after finding the back of the net.