Mathare United assistant coach Salim Ali is confident the club will reclaim the SportPesa Premier League after guiding them to a comfortable 3-1 win over Pasta Rangers yesterday at Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos.
Mathare thumped the mailmen to ascend to third place on the log with 34 points—two behind league leaders Sofapaka and one shy of defending champions Gor Mahia who are second. Ali believes they have a chance to be crowned champions should they better their first leg results.
Mathare produced a superb first leg where they stayed at the top of the league for the better part of the period but a series of unwelcome results coupled with go slows saw them drop to fourth.
However, the slum boys inched closer to regaining the top spot yesterday after producing a glamorous show in the first half hence piling more miseries on the mailmen who are now winless in their last five outings.
Ali, who prepared the team for the match in absence of his boss Francis Kimanzi, said the team stood a chance of laying hands on the trophy if they adopt ‘a game at a time’ approach.
“It was a great performance from the boys who played well in the first half but were a bit overpowered in the second half. The result moves us two points within the reach of the top spot and I believe we stand a chance of going top and winning the league if we replicate such displays and try to better our first leg results. We played well in the first leg and if we seek to play better than we did in the first leg then we will emerge champions.”
His Rangers counterpart John Kamau lauded Mathare for making good use of their chances. “It’s a game of two halves. Mathare made good use of their first-half chances but we also played well in the second half.”
