Nairobi City Stars hold AFC Leopards

By Gilbert Wandera

KENYA: Second half substitute Charles Okwemba saved the blushes for AFC Leopards with an 80th minute equaliser which helped his side pick a point in a 1-1 tie with Nairobi City Stars at Nyayo Stadium.

John Makwata had put City Stars ahead in the 65th minute when he out-ran a sluggish Leopards defence to shoot his side ahead.

However after a concerted effort during which Leopards raided on all four cylinders, the team won a corner which Okwemba headed home from an Abdalla Juma cross.

 Leopards were the more urgent side in the opening minutes of the match and enjoyed plenty of possession with City Stars preferring to stay back and catch their opponents on counter-attacks which however did not come.

It was Leopards who won the first corner when Edwin Seda's effort was blocked by Andrew Ongwae.

The resultant cross was taken by Peter Opiyo but Ronny Kagunzi put his hand on the ball before a waiting Jonas Nahimana could put a head on it.

 Four minutes later, Justus Basweti's shot flew off target after being set up by Jimmy Bagaye.

City Stars had their first corner at the half hour mark when Bagaye's effort was parried by Patrick Matasi and it proved that the Kawangware side too were determined to get something from the fixture.

Veteran defender John Amboko was forced to work extra hard to stop Allan Wanga on two occasions as the match headed to the break.

First he cleared a cut back cross from Paul Were with Wanga waiting to shoot home and the he blocked Wanga's goal bound shot for a corner.

Five minutes to the breather, Leopards captain Martin Imbalambala collected a loose ball outside City Stars’ box before releasing a ferocious shot that was deflected for a corner by Arthur Museve.

At Thika Municipal Stadium new Sony Sugar coach Zedekiah Otieno registered his first win since re-joining the club when he led his team to a 1-0 win over the host team.