Tusker move joint top of Premier League with Kenya police

Ovella Ochieng of Nairobi United controlling ball in their Sportpesa Premier league match against Muranga seal at MISC, Annex. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Tusker are now joint leaders of the SportPesa Premier League with defending champions Kenya Police after edging out Sofapaka 2-0 in a crucial match at Kasarani Annex yesterday.

Ian Simiyu scored a brace in the match to hand the brewers maximum points as they condemned Batoto ba Mungu to their seventh defeat of the season.

Victory saw Tusker pick their third win in a row and sixth of the season, three points that lifted them to the top alongside Police with 21 points.

The brewers are second though due to an inferior goal difference of two goals compared to Police with three goals, a small margin that already set the race to win the 2025-2026 Premier League title tight.

This is because record Kenyan champions Gor Mahia, Kakamega Homeboyz and Posta Rangers are tied on 20 points each and Shabana, who are sixth, have 19 points.

To make it even more interesting, AFC Leopards and KCB ranked seventh and eighth respectively are just three points off the top spot since they are also tied on 18 points.

In fact, even Mara Sugar, who are ninth with 17 points, are in the mix, with 13 rounds of matches rounds played.

However, it is important to note that majority of the teams have not played all the 13 matches.

Tusker and Posta Rangers have played 13 matches, but Police have only played 11 matches same as Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards. Homeboyz, Shabana, KCB, and Mara Sugar have all played 12 matches.

The matches in hand are expected to reshape how the standings look in the next few weeks as battle for the league title and also the lucrative Sh15 million prize money intensifies.

At Kasarani Annex, fans witnessed a barren first half with the match tied at 0-0 before a blunder by Sofapaka goalkeeper Edward Olak lit up the game.

In the 70th minute, Olak was beaten at his near post where he stood guard. He failed to stop Simiyu’s curling effort just close to the corner spot kick, the ball slipping through his hands and between his legs as Tusker took a 1-0 lead.

Tusker’s top scorer Eric Kapaito came off the bench to assist Simiyu for the game killer, sending a fine delivery that Simiyu buried for his brace and sealing the brewers’ 2-0 win.

Sofapaka remained deep into the relegation mix after the defeat, sitting 17th with 12 points, four points ahead of bottom-placed Kariobangi Sharks.

Murang’a Seal are 16th also with 12 points, making up the bottom three.

Starting this season, all the bottom three teams will automatically be relegated to the second tier National Super League.