Nairobi City Stars have dented Tusker’s march to the Football Kenya Federation Premier League title after frustrating them to a barren draw at Ruaraka grounds.Tusker were seeking to open a wider gap between them and Kakamega Homeboyz but lack of precision in the final third saw the settle for a point in a contest that saw either sides waste clear cut chances.City Stars head coach Nicholas Muyoti said the draw was a fair result to his side and encouraged the players to keep the good job up.”We will fight up to the final game. The game was important for us and it is the reason we allowed our fans to access the venue free of charge.We are still in contention for the title and we will have to fight up to the last game,” he said.His opposite number Robert Matano slammed his charges for giving City Stars ‘too much respect’ especially in the first half.”We didn’t play well in the first half. We have them too much respect .We made mistakes and wasted clear chances in the second half,” he said City Stars defense was forced to work overtime in an attempt to contain the pressure from Tusker who raided their area in the early minutes of the game.Rodgers Ouma and Shami Mwinyi would have given the brewers early goals from the chances created but lack of precision in the area saw City Stars who were the hosts survive.City Stars recovered from the pressure and began to execute their free flowing style of play and just like Tusker, Simba wa Nairobi didn’t have any meaningful attack directed to Patrick Matasi.Matano perhaps being unimpressed with the final balls delivered by Shami and Stewart Omondi instructed the duo of Eric Zakayo and John Njuguna to warm up hardly twenty minutes into the game. The presence of the two youngsters warming up on the periphery of the pitch served its purpose as both Shami and Omondi stepped up but found it difficult to cut in from the flanks or bend in crosses.Matano rested Shami and Shaphan Oyugi for Njuguna and Zakayo while City Stars threw in Timothy Ouma for Rodgers Ouma who had struggled to make his presence felt in the first half.Three minutes into the second half, Tusker centre back Christopher Oruchum became the first player on the pitch to be cautioned for bringing Nicholas Kipkirui down.The introduction of Ouma proved tactically right as the youngster troubled the Tusker defense with his trickery and runs giving the City Stars midfield the much needed punch.Matano looked into his bench again in the 65th minute where he brought in Deogratious Ojok and Clyde Senaji for Ouma and Omondi respectively.Tusker nearly broke the deadlock in the 67th minute when Zakayo rose high to head in a freekick delivered by Njuguna but the woodwork came to the rescue of City Stars.The holders who had to resort to long balls in a bid to break their way to the City Stars area with ease whipped in more balls into the area but Kennedy Onyango and Wycliffe Otieno’s height occasionally bailed the hosts. The few City Stars fans who had made way to Ruaraka went into frenzy mood when Mohamed Bajaber earned his league debut, coming in for Nicholas Kipkirui with eight minutes remaining on the clock.Bajaber who joined the club in February would attract backing from the fans whenever he touched the ball but his inclusion did little in inspiring his side to victory.
