Blows were nearly exchanged on and off the pitch, three red cards and a couple of yellows were dished but eventually, it was Bidco United who carried the day after narrowly edging Nairobi City Stars 2-1 at Ruaraka grounds. The duel which brought up the two teams who were promoted to the top flight at the start of the season lived up to its expectations, precisely in the second half where goals were not the highlight but the expulsion of Abdallah Salim, Lambert Oyuga and Bidco head coach Anthony Akhulia. It took the intervention of the linesman and fellow players to separate Salim and Oyuga from a possible bout engineered by the former who throughout the game had engaged Bidco players in a war of words coupled by strong challenges. Akhulia was on the other hand given his marching orders for strongly dissenting and would attract a melee on the periphery of the pitch side after he reluctantly to proceed to their designated tent set for the visitors. However, the youthful coach was elated with the hard fought win and the contribution of the three defenders he summoned for duty in one of the changes he rung before kick off. “Playing City Stars has always been tough since our days in the second tier. I am happy with the win as it means we haven’t lost to them in the top flight considering that we drew in the first leg and eliminated them in the Cup. I am also happy with the way the defenders whom I gave playing time played, ” he said. While the former player could not contain his joy, his City Stars counterpart John Amboko rued the absence of Peter ‘Pinchez’ Opiyo and Sven Yidah for the loss which means that he hasn’t won since his predecessor Sanjin Alagic left. ” We badly missed Pinchez and Sven in that midfield. It was our weakest link in the game but we have picked lessons from the game. We would have at least salvaged a point had we utilized our changes,” he said. After their 2-2 draw with Bandari, Akhulia promised to ring changes in his defence and truth to his word, he rested the duo of Francis Oduor and Geoffrey Gitau for Collins Okumu and Lambert Otieno while Kassim Mwinyi slotted at right back following the absence of David Kalama who is serving a two game suspension. The play was halted in the seventh minute to allow the medics attend to the duo of Eric Gichimu and Aziz Okaka who were on the floor after picking knocks.Davis Agesa would have given City Stars the lead in the tenth minute after Kelvin Okumu had picked him with a well weighted cross but the forward skied the ball.The wasted chance came to haunt City Stars as Gichimu combined with David Orem to give Bidco the lead in the 26th minute where the latter beat Steve Njung’e from close range.The goal proved a source of motivation for Bidco as they doubled their in roads in the City Stars area in a bid to double their advantage. The hosts were forced to a unwanted substitution in the 43rd minute after Nicholas Kipkirui was concussed with the experienced Ezekiel Odera taking up his role.Odera made his presence felt seconds later as he nearly beat Omar Adisa from Bolton Omwenga’s cross but the ball flew over the bar.With City Stars struggling to string passes, Amboko made two changes before restart, bringing in Timothy Ouma and Herit Mungai for Okaka and Charles Otieno respectively.The fresh legs brought the much needed vigour in the City Stars midfield as they managed to dominate possession and test Adisa.However their quest to level matters was quashed in the 64th minute when David Gateri superbly volleyed the ball to the far corner of Njung’e to double Bidco’s lead.City Stars halved the deficit in the 80th minute through Odera who send Adisa the wrong from the spot after Oyuga had brought Okumu down.To protect the slim lead, Akhulia threw in the trio of Batts Awita, Nelson Chieta and Stephen Okiro for Gichimu, Gateri and Sunga Alex respectively.A minute after making the changes, Akhulia was red carded for strongly dissenting to a foul awarded to the hosts.With just a minute to the final whistle, the duo of Salim and Oyuga were sent off for nearly exchanging blows after the former landed his studs on Okiro.
