Harambee Stars midfielder Eric Johana produced a creative display having come off the bench at half time as UTA Arad battled to a 4-3 win over Voluntari in the Romanian top-flight league relegation playoffs match on Monday night at the Francisc Von Neuman Stadium.Omondi was introduced in the 46th minute taking over Rares Pop’s place with UTA trailing 2-1 to the visitors.##NAJAVA_MECA_7966517##The former Mathare United midfielder instantly made the difference finding the back of the net four minutes later to equal the scores and help the Mircea Rednic charges mount a comeback to keep their survival hopes alive.The visitors opened the scoring through Adam Nemec, in the 28th minute, but the hosts restored the tie via Joao Pedro in the 37th minute barely three minutes after coming in for Marcelo Freitas who was stretched off with an injury.Henry Meja switches clubs in SwedenVoluntari took the lead again at the stroke of halftime after Igor Armas raced to Doru Andreicross to give Florin Parvu’s men an unexpected lead going to the breather.Immediately after the restart, the Kenyan international was at a strategic place at the right time to head home with an incoming Andrej Fabry cross from the left flank to restore parity and inspire his side to a comeback.With the match headed to a stalemate, former Voluntari striker Alexandru Tudorie headed home from close range after a quick interchange between UTA players in the opponent’s area to give the home side an advantage heading to the final ten minutes.Two minutes into added time, Cristian Merloi leveled the scores for the visitors to the delight of the traveling fans before Pedro capped off a man-of-the-match performance with a late winner in the sixth minute of extra time to send a half-packed Neuman stadium into a frenzy.Ayunga, Ng’ang’a join Harambee Stars campThe win kept UTA’s hopes of marshaling the top tier next season alive with five more matches to play.The goal was Omondi’s third since joining the club having featured in 18 matches with eight appearances coming off the bench. He has further assisted four times while averaging 0.2 shots per game.
