Gor to face SofaPaka in FKF finals

By Fred Maingi

Sofapaka  will now  face Gor Mahia in the finals of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) after edging out Tusker Premier League (TPL) defending Champions Tusker with a solitary goal in a thrilling semi final tie staged at the Moi International Sports centre (Kasarani).

    Joseph Nyaga notched in the magical goal for Sofapaka after he received a nice pass from Heritier Luvualu to beat Tusker custodian George Opiyo.

    The goal was widely cheered by the entire Sofapaka technical bench who felt cheated after referee Anthony Ogwayo denied them a clear goal scored after 53 minutes from Humphrey Mieno’s sumptuous free kick.The ball pierced through the net but while Sofapaka players were cheering the goal, the referee aptly declined to accept the goal.

  Sofapaka players tried to argue their case with the referee but the latter stuck to his guns.But during the argument, Tusker players took a short free kick that ended with Ken Wendo scoring a minute later after the disputed goal but yet again, the goal was disallowed.

    Nevetheless,Sofapaka deserved to win the match with a bigger margin.Top scorer John Barasa could have given Sofapaka  an earely lead on 39^th minute  but his rasping shot hit the post before rebounding back to play with Opiyo well beaten between the posts .

  Luvualu who was later replaced by John Njoroge almost scored a second goal on 76^th minute but he was slow in tapping Nyaga’s cross while another free kick from  Sofapaka’s Abdalla Juma in the 53^rd minute hit the crossbar for a fruitless corner.

     Sofapaka will now face off with Gor Mahia in the FKF cup final slated for Tuesday at the same venue.The winner will represent the country in the CAF Confederation Cup.