A seventeenth minute penalty from Maurice Owino gave KCB a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sofapaka FC in a Wednesday afternoon game played at the Kasarani Annex grounds.The win – the team’s second on the spin-moved the Bankers to third spot in the standings on 30 points.”I am really happy with how the team played today,” KCB coach Zedekiah Otieno said post-game. “Two wins in a row feels good.””I think we created opportunities but were not clinical enough,” David Ouma (Sofapaka) lamented.##NAJAVA_MECA_7007013##Sofapaka with the defeat are 10th on the log having ammassed 18 points from 15 games played.After a rather slow start to the game, it took till the 15th minute for the game to liven up, but for the wrong reasons.Sofapaka goalkeeper Simon Masaka came out of his line and collided with an onrushing John Mwangi inside the box leaving him dinged up and laying on the turf.As the medics rushed to attend to him, center referee Peter Kamaku showed Masaka a yellow card for his troubles and awarded KCB an early penalty.Maurice Owino would after a slight stoppage smack the ball down the middle to give KCB the lead as Nicholas Kipkirui made way for the injured Mwangi – who was led to the team’s locker room.Omala the hero yet again as K’Ogalo end three year hoodoo against TuskerWhat followed was a half dominated by KCB as they made frequent inroads to the Sofapaka box.The closest chance just before the teams took a first half water-break came through Michael Odour in a quick counter attack. The winger however in acres of space shot straight at the keeper.Sofapaka’s decent chance came in the last seconds of the first half – Baron Oketch feeding Titus Achesa only for Gabriel Andika in goal to pull an impressive low save.Sofapaka made three changes in the interval bringing on Stephen Okola, Alex Imbusia and Maqbul Ochola.Imbusia provided a spark in the 60th minute as he reacted to a KCB loose ball only to shoot wide.Kennedy Owino threatened to add a second for KCB after 66 minutes with Simon Masaka pulling a decent save down low.Alex Imbusia was once again through on goal in the 72nd minute after a pinpoint long ball from Masaka but shot wide at the goalkeeper.Spirited Nzoia rally from a goal down to floor SharksMichael Odour should have made it two afterwards- with a chance to score in an open net – but with all the time in the world shot way over the bar.KCB made a couple of late substitutions late on; bringing on James Mazembe and Hillary Dukussy as the Bankers cleverly managed the clock.For Sofapaka, it was the all familiar sorry tale of them not taking their few chances as they snapped their two-match winning streak.
