The Kenyan Premier League title race thrown wide open

Wazito FC's Derrick Otanga (left) and Joel Abaluwano of Western stima during KPL match at Narok stadium on Feb 8, 2020. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Otieno fires warning shots to title rivals as brewers narrow gap on league leaders Gor Mahia.

Red-hot striker Timothy Otieno and Tusker fired a warning shot to their Kenyan Premier League title rivals with a hard fought 1-0 victory over AFC Leopards in Sunday’s match at Afraha Stadium, Nakuru.

Otieno netted the winner midway through the second half to take his season tally to 11 goals and help Tusker (41 points) leapfrog Kakamega Homeboyz (41) into the second place on the table courtesy of a better goal difference.

The brewers perfectly capitalised on their title rivals’ misfortunes on Saturday to narrow the gap on league leaders Gor Mahia to three points.

K’Ogalo suffered a 3-1 defeat to Sofapaka in Narok, while Homeboyz were held to a 1-1 draw by Bandari in Mombasa, results that gave the eleven time champions a renewed hope of contending for the title.

But Leopards have themselves to blame after squandering a host of scoring chances in the first half including Elvis Rupia’s penalty kick miss.

And having helped Tusker to extend their unbeaten run to thirteen games as well as strongly put them back into the title race with his decisive 62nd minute strike, Otieno said they are ready to dethrone his former club from the top if they slip.

“I’m grateful for that massive goal. We just got one chance the entire game and made good use of it. It is a big win for the whole team. The battle has just started and there is no room for error,” Otieno told Standard Sports.

“We are now strongly back into the title race and we are going to take each of the remaining matches like a final. We are just waiting for them (Gor Mahia) to make mistakes again and we will be there.”

Though AFC Leopards are now ten points behind leaders Gor Mahia, captain Robinson Kamura is adamant the title race is still far from over.

“We might have lost today, but I think the title race is still wide open. There is still a lot of points to be fought for. Going by the points’ gap, the top five battle is very interesting and I think we also still have a chance to challenge for the title,” said Kamura.

AFC Leopards started off the stronger side, pressing high, pushing Tusker back and made things difficult for Robert Matano’s men.

But Tusker got a grip on the game as the game progressed with Ingwe’s intensity beginning to dip slowly.

Timothy Otieno almost broke the deadly, but Kamura did well to block his effort before Apollo Otieno also intercepted Vincent Oburu’s shot on the opposite end.

But it is Leopards, who had a perfect chance to go into the breather leading when Ugandan midfielder Hashim Sempala tripped Rupia in the box. The former Wazito man stepped up to take the resultant penalty, but was denied by goalkeeper Robert Mboya.

Leopards were punished in the 62nd minute when Otieno reacted fast to volley home past goalkeeper Benjamin Ochan.