It was yet another barren draw for Sofapaka as they were held by Karuturi Sports in a Kenyan Premier League (KPL) match on Thursday evening at Nyayo National Stadium. 

It was the second time in a row for Sofapaka to draw. They registered a similar result against Gor Mahia ten days ago which does not augur well for their title ambitions.

Both teams were guilty of missed chances but it was Sofapaka who created more scoring opportunities.

In the first half alone, they had about five chances to finish the game.

First Humphrey Mieno shot wide on the 15th minute from a scoring position then veteran striker John Baraza hit the post from a Patrick Kagogo cross in the 27th minute.

The visitors should have scored five minutes later with Yusuf Abdul blasting wide when he should have calmly converted .

It was however Ben Juma who had the best chance for the Naivasha side hitting the post on the stroke of half time as the Sofapaka defence remained beaten.

The inclusion of  Osborne Monday in Sofapaka’s midfield opened up the Karuturi defence and he had several balls upfront with no one to score. 

Francis Ouma the 2008 KPL top scorer was also thrown in the Sofapaka attack but he too failed to turn the tide around as Karuturi defended well.

Coach Kimanzi Francis rued missed chances especially in the second half where his team dominated play and expressed concern over the spate of poor results.

“Two points in two matches is a deep concern for me. Today we had our chances but once again failed to convert,” he said.

His Karuturi counterpart James Nandwa felt his team played well but once again were poor in front of goal.

“When you look at our past matches, we have been playing really well creating chances but not scoring. We probably need two strikers in the transfer window to convert our chances,” he said.

Gina Tivona

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