Hat-trick hero Waruru leads Ulinzi past Stima, Nakuru hold Bandari

Forward Stephen Waruru put up a master class performance bagging his season’s first hat trick to stretch his goals  tally to eleven as Ulinzi Stars cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Western Stima in a league match  played at the Afraha Stadium on Saturday.

The win saw Ulinzi Stars consolidate their fourth position on 44 points from 27 matches behind Gor Mahia (51), Sofapaka (50) and Tusker (45).

Waruru, claimed the Golden Boot award in 2011 with 12 goals, has this termed emerged as coach Robert Matano’s main man in attack, and he enhanced his considerable reputation with a dominant display that proved too much for the Stima defence.

GOLDEN BOOT CHASE

His treble act not only allowed him to take the match ball home but also puts him in contention for the Golden Boot as he is three goals shy of league top scorer, Gor Mahia’s Dan Sserunkuma - who has netted 14.

The combat engineer opened his account in the 17th minute when he rose to head home a Kevin Amwayi’s free kick beating Stima’s goalie Gabriel Andika before widening the advantage  in the 31st minute  with a well curled free kick.

He then put the game  beyond reach with seven minutes to play with a lovely, fierce drive.

“I told Waruru to be calm and not to force himself to score and I am glad that he followed the advice and it worked for him. I knew the goals would come and I have been vindicated.”

“The boys played well too and stuck to the game plan. They knew what was expected of them and they did exactly that,” said Ulinzi coach Robert Matano.

BANDARI, ALLSTARS DRAW

Though the soldiers enjoyed domination in the first half, Stima had its fair of chances too but could not make the most of them. Collins Neto came close to pulling one in the 27th minute after getting a through pass but his effort was parried to safety by the soldiers’ custodian James Saruni.

At the Mombasa Municipal Stadium, Bandari’s dismal run continued after they failed to utilise their home ground advantage.

They settled for a scoreless draw against bottom placed Nakuru AllStars in a dull encounter. The dockers have not won in their last seven matches and the disjointed display drew the ire of home fans who bayed for the blood of the players and the technical bench members after the final whistle.

On the pitch, there were no clear cut chances with Bandari’s Shaban Kenga, Kepha Aswani and Victor Ndinya failing to rise to the occasion.