Cruising Mathare United will host Nairobi City Stars in a league match at the Ruaraka Grounds on Saturday afternoon.The Slum Boys appear to be picking form at the right time and after beating Kariobangi Sharks during their midweek match in Thika, they moved out of the relegation zone and appear to be heading towards safety. Their season has been a tough one and many had backed Mathare to go down, coach Frank Ouna remained defiant and true to his word, they are moving towards safety. For the first time this season, the 2008 league champions won back-to-back matches in the league after wins over Sofapaka and Sharks.In City Stars, they will be facing an in-form team, the Kawangware-based side managed to shake the blip and have won their last two games against top guns. They downed Tusker FC before seeing off AFC Leopards. The John Amboko-led team is currently in great form and will give Mathare United a proper challenge on Saturday afternoon.🗣️ | “We have had a good spell but we all have to remember that the job is not yet done. One single mistake and the advantage of having our destiny in our hands will be lost” Coach Ouna ahead of Saturday’s early kickoff against @NrbCityStars Read: https://t.co/unuJkxPeUL pic.twitter.com/NoWIUKu35p— Mathare United FC (@MathareUtd) August 6, 2021 In the last five games, Mathare United have won two, lost two, and drew one. City Stars on the other hand have won two, drew two, and lost one game.Mathare head into the game without one of their key players. Key defender and assistant captain David Ochieng tore his hamstring against Sharks and has since been ruled out of the crunch match.“It is a grade 1 tear on his left hamstring which isn’t as serve as we initially thought. We’ll have to assess him, take him through a bit of rehabilitation for at least a week before we can do further tests and give a definitive answer on the time he will miss,” Mathare medic, Wycliffe Omom told the club media.Mathare coach Frank Ouna understands just how important the match against City Stars and the remaining three others is to his team.“We are fighting for our lives until the final whistle is blown to conclude the season and coach Frank Ouna has found the perfect analogy to put this into context as we approach our final four matches of the campaign starting with Saturday’s early kickoff against Nairobi City Stars,” Ouna told the club media.“At the moment, every team except one that we have to play is above us on the table and their slots for next season in the league have already been guaranteed. It is safe to say then that they will be playing for prestige when we ourselves will be playing for our lives,” “It’s like a dog hunting after a rabbit after being tusked to do so by its owner. The dog is doing so to seek the approval of the owner while the rabbit is fighting for its life. We are the rabbit in this situation and we can’t afford to be complacent. We have had a good spell but we all have to remember that the job is not yet done. One single mistake and the advantage of having our destiny in our hands will be lost,” he added.TRAVELLING SQUAD v Mathare UTDFull story [https://t.co/WuGYxWJQnn]#BetterMustCome#𝕊𝕚𝕞𝕓𝕒𝕎𝕒ℕ𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕠𝕓𝕚 pic.twitter.com/G9ja1OH0b1— Official Nairobi City Stars Fc (@NrbCityStars) August 6, 2021 City Stars on the other hand will be without a number of key players. Kevin Okumu, Anthony Kimani, and Abdallah Salim are out of the game through suspension. Davis Agesa, Rodgers Okuse, Peter Opiyo, and Oliver Maloba on the other hand are out through injury.“Mid kingpin and field captain Anthony Muki Kimani is suspended as well as right-back Kevin Chumsy Okumu due to accumulated yellow cards. Adding on to Amboko’s list of absentees is marauding forward Davis Agesa who picked an injury during the Leopards’ games. The places of the three in the 20-man squad have been filled up by Azizi Okaka, Wesley Onguso, and Ebrima Sanneh,” said a statement from the club.
