Ulinzi Stars saw off Vihiga Bullets by two goals to nothing at a wet ASK Grounds to bounce back to winning ways, and condemn the visitors to their eighth loss of the season.Oscar Wamalwa and Benard Ongoma fired the bullets for the Soldiers in the first half and the Stephen Ocholla coached side held on to the first-half lead to the last minute.Ulinzi Stars had a perfect start, finding the back of the net just five minutes into the game courtesy of Oscar Wamalwa. Clinton Omondi floated in a nice cross after some good run on the flank which the Vihiga Bullets custodian Benard Otieno failed to deal with properly and Wamalwa headed home to give the soldiers the lead.Bullets right back Nickson Khalwale had a tough game as Omondi kept on twisting and turning him at will in the first half.Nevertheless, the Abdalla Juma side seemed to grow comfortable in the game despite being a goal down and tried to go at Ulinzi with hopes of finding the equalizer before the break.John Kago could have doubled the lead 33 minutes in after being played through by the superb Omondi, with defender Kevin Ouma playing the incisive initial pass to Omondi, but the midfielder shot over the bar.Captaining the side in the absence of James Saruni, Benard Ongoma led by example as he headed home a Daniel Waweru cross from a corner to double the advantage for Stephen Ocholla’s charges with five minutes to play before the break and the hosts led into the interval.On resumption, both teams made a change each, with Ulinzi Stars bringing in Masita Masuta for Waweru as Vihiga Bullets rested Lucky Musyoki for Jessey Katuba.The visitors came to life in the second half, and the heavens opened up as to make it tough for both teams, perhaps it came as an advantage for the all-weather soldiers.Mophat Kovelo was the first person to go into the books of the referee as a result of arguing with the whistler in the 55th minute, with Harun Mwale joining him in the wrongdoers’ list for a foul on Vincent Odongo five minutes later.At the stroke of the hour mark, Bullets made another change, this time resting Martin Okumu and introducing Nicholas Masamba as their search for a consolation intensified.Ocholla responded with a change of his own 10 minutes later as Ibrahim Shambi was thrown in and Omar Boraafya rested after his exploits in the game.Shambi almost had an instant impact three minutes later after rising to head from a Masuta cross but Bullets were saved by the crossbar as he hammered his effort.With 13 minutes left to play, both sides made yet another change each as Tindi Biko came on for Kago for the Ulinzi Stars camp, with Ian Kigada replacing Odongo.Michael Isabwa, fresh from scoring the equalizer against AFC Leopards, almost found the target with a superb freekick but the custodian of the day Stephen Ochieng stood firm to deny him.Two minutes after the attempt by Bullets, Ouma almost got the third for Ulinzi but his header from a Mwale’s cross went just inches wide.With four minutes left to play, Ocholla would make the last change, resting the first goalscorer Wamalwa and threw in Mark Bikokwa for the final minutes.The win sees Ulinzi move to eighth with 15 points while Bullets remain rooted at the bottom with just two points.
