Mathare bounce back in style against Nairobi United at Dandora
Just like he did against them two seasons ago, Paul Kinyanjui was again the match winner as Mathare United downed Nairobi United by a solitary goal on Thursday to shoot up the Premier League standings.
The diminutive forward’s 83rd-minute strike settled the matchday 11 contest at Dandora Stadium and lifted John Kamau’s men from the relegation zone and into eighth place in the standings with 14 points.
Granted his second successive start after an impressive cameo against Kakamega Homeboyz on matchday nine, Kinyanjui showed composure and alertness in scoring his first for the season, taking advantage of some poor defending by the hosts to slot home from inside the box.
The 23-year-old had done the same against the Naibois when we faced them in a hotly contested promotion battle during the 2023/24 NSL season, coming off the bench to score the winner in a five-goal thriller at the Mpesa Foundation grounds in Thika.
On Thursday, the Slumboys were more resolute in defence and kept their fifth clean sheet of the season, which allowed Kevin Ouru to move to joint top in the race for the Golden Glove.
Taking on Nairobi after nearly two weeks since their last match, John Kamau’s charges played more freely and were fluid in possession, attempting 250 passes with an 80% success rate according to stats offered by the league.
They created 16 attempts at goal, with Dennis Okoth coming close on several occasions in the opening half, to giving the visitors an early lead.
Aside from Kinyanjui’s goal, the biggest talking point on the day was the questionable performance of centre referee Eric Njogu, who twice failed to award Mathare a penalty, once in the first half and then in the second, moments before the goal.
With December fully packed for the lads with four more matches to come before breaking for the festivities, there is no time to savour Thursday’s victory as Mara Sugar are up next at Kasarani on Monday.