By James Waindi

Mathare United’s season is in danger of imploding with the champions losing their second match in the last three and cutting their seemingly reasonable position from third to fourth on 40 points with only five matches remaining.

The latest defeat came at the hands of relegation threatened AFC Leopards who inflicted a costly 2-1 score line.

The Slum Boys who won the league last season on the final day now seem to have lost the plot this time round, but with the turning of events, anything could be possible when the league climaxes on its resumption on October 17.

Mathare coach Francis Kimanzi had predicted a cutthroat competition at the start of the season and it has turned to be realistic and it haunts him as well.

"This season is going to be really tough because two very strong teams have joined the fray and the existing ones have reinforced their teams, but we are optimistic of defending the title," said Kimanzi when he vowed to concentrate on the local league after his team was bundled out of the Africa Champions League.

A tight competition ladder became even more congested after the weekend’s round of the League with just 10 points separating five teams at the top.

The high-flying leaders Sofapaka suffered a third defeat on the trot, this time a 2-1 home defeat to Nairobi City Stars.

These upsets allowed their rivals to take advantage, but a few declined the invitation.

Title chasers Tusker, failed to capitalise on the leaders’ loss as they shared the spoils with Ulinzi in a barren draw at Kasarani. A win could have seen them cut Sofapaka’s lead to just two points and pile pressure on the one time runaway league leaders in the competition’s final stretch.

All the top five coaches, however, including Gor Mahia’s Gideon Ochieng are confident of clinching the title and the last fixtures would certainly be enticing.

"We have peaked at the right time. It is just unfortunate that we lost relatively easy fixtures at the start of the season that could have seen us enjoy an unassailable lead at the top of the league at this moment, but I still believe we can still clinch it," said Ochieng after his side beat Red Berets 3-0 on Sunday.

Gor’s win over Berets was a boost for AFC Leopards who are fighting relegation as they have now moved to 13th position on 26 points.

As the table stands, Agro Chemical who were third last season and Bandari are the teams to be axed because they occupy the last two slots.