KERICHO,
Kenya, Mar 7 – Season one regional and national champions Kapenguria Heroes
remained on course to achieve a double of both after seeing off White Rhino 2-1
to sail into the final of the Rift region finals at the Kericho Green Stadium
on Saturday.

Lanky
forward Wesley Mtai scored the winner three minutes after the break to hand
Kapenguria victory in a tightly contested semi, and a ticket to Sunday’s semi
against Kajiado’s Laiser Hill.

Alfred Tanui
broke the deadlock in the 15^th minute before Rhino levelled in the
32^nd through Tyson Kapchanga.

Contrary to
the first semi, the duel between season one kings Kapenguria and newbies White
Rhino was a closely contested encounter.

White Rhino
thought they had broken the lead in the 12^th minute when Kapchanga
tapped the ball unmarked on the right, but the first assistant referee’s flag
was up for offside.

With the alarm
sounded, Kapenguria pumped up their attacking play and just three minutes after
that, they were 1-0 up when Tanui broke the deadlock.

The
midfielder raced onto the ball from a swift counter attack, broke into the box
before opening his body well to place the ball at the far post beyond the
keeper’s reach.

Tanui had a
chance for a second in the 27^th minute but his diving header off a
Gilbert Deko cross went inches wide. Deko had done well to gain some ground on
the right to pick out the cross which landed kindly at the edge of the six yard
box.

Despite
going down, the boys from Ololung’a did not drop their tails as they kept
pushing. They had another shot at goal on the half hour mark when Kelvin Kata
beautifully controlled the ball at the back post but his attempt at lifting it
over the keeper was awry, the ball looping over.

But, two
minutes later, things were tied at 1-1 in sublime fashion. Kapchanga who
earlier on had a goal disallowed controlled a cross from the left calmly at the
edge of the box before setting himself up for a scorcher that flew into the
roof of the net.

White Rhino
had the advantage swung in their favour and they played with more confidence,
David Mwiti doing well to play the conductor’s role in midfield.

Their
confidence was almost nipped in the bud six minutes to the break when
Kapenguria had a chance, Deko’s freekick from the right being pushed to the bar
by the keeper while Fredrick Krop’s attempt with a shot off the rebound was
saved by the astute custodian.

On the
turn, Rhinos should have gored their way ahead, but Kata struck his shot
against the side netting after some silky piece of skill earned him good
shooting space from a tight angle.

While it
seemed the two would run each other close in the second half, Kapenguria just
took three minutes to get back into the lead when Mtai bouned in a header from
the edge of the six yard box off a cross from the left.

The goal
looked to have caught Rhinos flat footed as Kapenguria entered into a period of
dominance. Kevin Pkiech saw his thumping header crush against the crossbar in
the 55^th minute off Tanui’s corner.

Tanui had two
back to back chances, but he wasted both opportunities to pull Kapenguria
further away. In the 65^th minute, he was denied one on one by the
keeper while five minutes later, his bullet shot was turned behind for a
corner.

The keeper
was called into duty one again when he did well to turn Gregory Komoi’s freekick
behind for a corner.

In the final
quarter hour of the game, Rhinos added the pressure, looking to get an
equalizer and at least send the game to penalties. However, their efforts all
came to nothing with the closest being a shot from Kata at the near post which
hit the side netting.

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