Kenya College of Accountancy University KCAU coach Willis Otieno acknowledges that their promotion ambitions have sunk into a perilous situation following a 1-0 defeat to Mombasa Sports Club over the weekend.
The students were primed for a slot in next year's top-flight league but MSC, who are also in the promotion battle, changed the student's course.
With just a match to play, KCAU are second with 40 points, while MSC are third with 36 points and three games in hand.
The students play Nakuru in their remaining match while MSC have Multimedia, Impala and Kisumu Youngsters awaiting them.
To keep their dream alive Otieno believes they will have to win their last encounter and as well hope that MSC find the going tough in the coming weeks.
Parkroad Badgers have already earned promotion to the top flight after accumulating an assailable 46 points from 18 matches.
"Promotion is not in our hands now unless they MSC drop points in their remaining three matches. They need to drop at least two points to rekindle our ambitions. They played so well and are strong at their backyard. We need to win and hope lady luck smiles our way," said Otieno.
"It was a heartbreaking loss because we did not score, something that has not happened for a while. When you start looking at mathematics it means things are difficult. A draw could have been a fair result."
"Our ambition was to return to the Premier League. With Parkroad, whom we were relegated with last season, having sealed their return, it would be failure on our side if we don't get promoted. It's not yet over until the league comes to an end," Otieno added.
MSC should have little trouble winning against bottom-placed Multimedia University at home. However, they face a Herculean task against Impala and Kisumu Youngsters in Nairobi and Kisumu respectively.
MSC will find it rough if they happen to go toe-to-toe with KCAU due to an inferior goal difference so far.
The students won 3-0 in Mombasa and boast a superior goal difference of 23 compared to MSC's 11.
