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Sharks, Leopards play to ill tempered draw

AFC Leopards striker Eugene Mukangula vies for the ball with Kariobangi Sharks midfielder Patillah Omotto during a Kenyan Premier League clash at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on December 9, 2018. Photo/Timothy Olobulu

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 9 – AFC Leopards and Kariobangi Sharks played to a 1-1 draw in an entertaining but ill-tempered Kenyan Premier League clash at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on Sunday evening.

Sharks had to finish the match with 10 men after Michael Bodo was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident in a brawl that dragged almost three minutes.

Skipper Robinson Kamura drew AFC back level after Harrison Mwendwa broke the deadlock, both goals coming through in the first half.

New assistant coach Marko Vasiljevic was present on the touchline just less than 48 hours after touching down as he is expected to take charge until Nikola Kavazovic returns to the club having traveled away to Serbia to ‘take care of family matters’.

AFC, fresher than their opponents who just in Wednesday played a CAF Confederations Cup away in Djibouti started with some pace, but they were soon to be silenced when Harrison Mwendwa broke the deadlock.

AFC Leopards midfielder Said Tsuma vies for the ball with Kariobangi Sharks’ Duke Abuya during a Kenyan Premier League match at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on December 9, 2018. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu

Mwendwa picked the ball from a brilliant Vincent Wasambo through pass before sweeping past both AFC centre backs and striking a belter of a shot into Jairus Adira’s far post to silence the sizeable AFC crowd that had attended their opening game of the season.

The winger was drafted to play as the main striker with both Sharks’ out and out forwards Sidney Lokale and Georeg Abege out injured.

He was a constant menace with his speed and trickery on the ball with Robinson Kamura having a hard time containing him.

But, AFC bounced back into the game seven minutes after conceding when defender Geoffrey Shiveka handled Said Tsuma’s shot inside the box.

Skipper Kamura stepped forward and made no mistake sending Brian Bwire the wrong way as AFC crept back on level terms.

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AFC Leopards striker Eugene Mukangula wheels away from Kariobangi Sharks’ Nickson Omondi during a Kenyan Premier League match at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on December 9, 2018. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu

The tie was a see-saw affair, each of the two teams giving much in attack but the action in the final third was always questionable.

Duke Abuya came close for Sharks when he tried to go for the spectacular with an overhead kick from inside the box, but the ball was blocked by the Ingwe backline.

The pace of the game intensified in the second half and AFC came close 10 minutes after the restart but Brian Marita’s header off a Dennis Sikhayi cross flew inches over the bar.

Mwendwa continued with his destructive work on the other end, but again, action in the final third let Sharks down.

The game almost degenerated into a fist fight towards the end with tackles flying all over the pitch and it ended in Bodo receiving his marching orders after an off the ball brawl.

Both coaches had to come into the pitch to separate the players who were sizing up against each other with AFC’s Isaac Oduor almost coming to blows with Bodo.

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