Chris Oduor treble lifts Mathare past Zoo

Mathare United striker Chris Oduor (centre) is joined by teammates Chris Ochieng' (left) and John Mwangi in celebrating their first goal against Zoo Kericho during their SportPesa Premier League match at Ruaraka grounds on August 19, 2017. PHOTO | VINCENT OPIYO |

What you need to know:

  • The Slum Boys, who are enduring their worst start to a league season this term, were 1-0 up just a minute into the match through Oduor before he added a second at the stroke of half-time.

Chris Oduor became the first player to net a hat-trick in the 2017 SportPesa Premier League season as Mathare United hammered hapless Zoo Kericho 6-0 at the Ruaraka grounds on Saturday.

The Slum Boys, who are enduring their worst start to a league season this term, were 1-0 up just a minute into the match through Oduor before he added a second at the stroke of half-time.

Ezekiel Seda added the third in the 55th minute, substitute Derrick Onyango netted the fourth on the 74th minute before Chris converted from the penalty spot with 10 minutes to go.

Onyango hammered the last nail on Zoo’s coffin with a last-gasp minute strike to ensure Mathare record their biggest win of the season against the debutantes.

The win took Mathare's tally to 20 points as Zoo remain on 26 after 20 rounds.

“This is a result of a persistently hardworking team which is coming to the limelight. We’ve been playing well of late but positive results have not been coming our way. I thank the boys for the great work and game today. They played to the best of their ability, scoring six goals is no joke,” Mathare coach Francis Kimanzi said in his post-match interview.

His counterpart Sammy Okoth rued less time spent in preparing for the fixture leading to the poor show.

“Two days is not enough to assemble a team for an away fixture. In as much as we don’t want to blame the political situation, we had a poor game. We shall go back to the drawing board to plan for the next game against Sony Sugar on Wednesday,” he said.

Kimanzi’s boys came into the match with one objective, to utilise the opponents’ weakness and score early goals. They dominated the game from the onset.

It took only a few seconds for Oduor to net his fifth goal of the season. The forward picked up a loose ball outside the area, controlled well before lobbying past the onrushing Zoo goalkeeper Vincent Misikhu.

In the 13th minute, new Harambee Stars call up Chris Ochieng’ whipped the ball from the left flank, but Ronald Reagan's shot was off the mark.

Okoth's charges opted to soak the pressure from behind and hit the hosts on the counter. Nicholas Kipkirui, another Stars call up and Geoffrey Gichana’s runs from the wing were not causing trouble for the marauding Mathare wing backs.

The 2008 SPL champions were dealt a major blow four minutes to the break after Andrew Juma sustained an injury that forced him to be stretchered off the pitch with David Owino replacing him.

With seconds to the breather, Reagan met Owino’s free kick from the left side and while inside the box, easily beat his marker to set up Oduor who released a low shot into the bottom right corner for a 2-0 lead at the break.

Seda’s third goal in the 55th minute got Mathare to yet another pace in the second half as Chris Oduor and Onyango tormented the out of sorts Zoo backline.

Zoo were totally outplayed in all departments with Kipkirui and Mike Madoya creating half chances which were not utilised.