FOOTBALL POST MATCH REPORT
Star Field Elite hold on for hard fought 3-2 win over Aga Khan
07/07/21 Nairobi, Kenya
The football match on Sunday was a tale of two halves — the first at times was anything but, the second utterly dominant but less assured as Star Field Elite managed to capitalize on their dominance enough and contain their struggles enough to still walk away with a crucial 3-2 win over Aga Khan.
The first chance of a game that started poorly for the home side fell to Aga Khan in the 3rd minute when a long ball from their keeper bounced awkwardly deceiving the Star Field defense and the away striker pounced on to slot home after rounding-off an onrushing Stanley Kimeu in goal.
In the 11the minute Matt Collins skipped past three players before feeding Feisal Rajab who sped forward and delivered a dangerous near post cross that was cleared behind by the retreating Aga Khan defenders. Timon Tenambergen rose highest to head the resultant corner kick whilst he was being fouled in the process and the referee pointed to the spot. Isaac Mumu stepped forward, however he put the ball wide off the left upright with the goalkeeper well beaten from 12 yards out.
Mohammed Samir was outstanding all afternoon on the left wing and after breaking free on the flanks to reach the byline, he picked out Shamilton Omwenga who blasted his effort over with a quarter of an hour gone.
A loose ball then dropped kindly for the lively Samir, the 14-year old Aga Khan Academy student swivelled with a silky first touch to beat his opponent who fouled him a few metres beyond the half way mark. Timon stood over the free kick and found Omwenga who brought the ball down beautifully with a neat touch only to see his quickly taken shot sail over the crossbar.
Loose passes and half-hearted challenges had littered the opening quarter of this match and that prompted Star Field to make an early substitution. The introduction of Mohammed Bajaber on the 23rd minute engineered a flurry of action and he upped the team’s intensity and went on to equalize barely two minutes after coming on as he capitalized on a slack defensive pass and nipped in beyond his marker to slot home a low drive on the 25th minute.
In the 75th minute Humphrey Kariuki more than made up for Star Field’s earlier misses in the second period by scoring a superb free-kick that flew over the wall into the bottom corner past the visitor’s goalkeeper, who just about got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out.
With less than ten minutes to go in the game, the third goal arrived courtesy of the inform Unaiz Shajani. The move started when Khalid Hassan broke down the left flank and fired a cross into the penalty box where Shajani worked himself into space before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net for a 3-1 score line.
Aga Khan did pull one back to make it 3-2 on the stroke of full time but it was a little too late to stop Star Field from matching onto their third straight victory in as many games.