Kakamega High School’s Joshua Otieno controls the ball under pressure from St Antony Boys’ Silas ‘Kante’ Ogana during their National Secondary School Games match at the Hill School in Eldoret on July 25, 2018. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
ELDORET, Kenya, Jul 25- Moses Mudavadi’s 86th minute controversial penalty saw St. Antony’s Boys scrape off to a 1-1 draw with Kakamega High School in a top of Pool B National Secondary School Games tie at the Hill School in Eldoret on Wednesday afternoon.
Evans Odhiambo had given the Green Commandos a first half lead having dominated most of the proceedings, but referee Peter Mwaura gave out a controversial penalty with only four minutes of regulation time to see the highly charged match end in a stalemate.
The match official had to be escorted off the pitch under heavy police security with Kakamega fans and technical bench officials baying for his blood.
“It is high time officials of KSSSA take action. They (St Anthony’s) did it in Lodwar, they did it when we played together in Western Region and they are doing it here now and everyone is seeing. Let the kids enjoy football and the best team win on the pitch. They will be carried with those penalties and hopefully we will meet again in the final,” an agitated Brendan Mwinamo, the Kakamega High School head coach said after the match.
The result now means St Antony retain top spot in the group with four points, same us Kakamega but with a better goal difference.
The final round of group matches on Thursday will see Kakamega take on Ringa with the Nyanza Region team carrying qualification hopes having beaten Kathungi 1-0 in the other group match on Wednesday.
Action between Kakamega High School and St Antony Boys’ during their National Secondary School Games match at the Hill School in Eldoret on July 25, 2018. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
Kathungi who are already eliminated after back to back losses will take on St. Anthony with both matches being played concurrently. A win by a big margin will guarantee the Solidarity Boys a place on top of Pool B.
Against Kakamega, it was billed as the ‘final before the final’ and testament to this was the huge number of fans who flocked the pitch to cheer on their favorite teams.
Kakamega with the midfield steel of Alpha Onyango and Joshua Otieno dominated the match and just three minutes in, they were ahead when Odhiambo raced to a rebound after the St. Anthony keeper spilled a freekick from Boniface Ouko.
With experience from playing in the National Super League, Kakamega took command of the game dictating the tempo and possession.
However, they were almost caught off in the 10th minute but had keeper Brian Opondo to thank after making a brilliant double save.
He did well to go down and save a ferocious shot from Silas Ogana before bouncing back to save the rebound from Titus Kapchanga.
The second rebound fell on James Kibonde but he could only shoot high into the sky with an open goalmouth gazing at him.
On the half hour mark, Kakamega’s Onyango had an effort off a freekick but the St Anthony keeper went down well to his left to parry the ball away.
In the second half, the tempo of the game picked up and St Anthony began to look for those small openings to find a scoring chance.
In the 65th minute, Oganda, nicknamed ‘Kante’ by the team’s fans did well to find some space off a short corner, but his eventual cross was too close to the keeper.
With 15 minutes left, Kakamega started pushing for a second goal that would take the game to safety and they almost did that when Henry Atola found some shooting space from distance but his effort was pushed against the crossbar by the keeper.
Four minutes to go, all hell broke loose when off a counter, Daniel Musamali was brought down by Collins Sichenje and the referee pointed to the spot though the offence looked to have happened outside the box.
Meanwhile, Dagoretti High School from Nairobi boosted their hopes of qualifying to the semis after beating North Eastern’s Tarbaj 9-0 to move to four points. They play Shimba Hills on Thursday with the Coastal team also on four points after playing to a 1-1 draw with Olbolosat.
In the Under-16 Copa Cocacola, St. Peters Boys from Mumias booked a semi-final slot after beating Riyabu 4-1 while North Eastern’s Subunley beat St. Cyprian of Eastern 4-1 to revive their semi-final hopes .
Subunley must now beat Riyabu who are also on three points on Thursday to advance to the semis.
