Posta Rangers Survive Nairobi Stima Power Surge To Retain SPL Status

MACHAKOS, Kenya- Posta Rangers FC retained their SportPesa Premier League (SPL) status on Wednesday afternoon when they edged hard-fighting Nairobi Stima FC 3-2 on aggregate after the second leg of their first and second division play-off at the Kenyatta Stadium ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

Carrying a slim 2-1 advantage from the first leg, the SPL outfit held on and survived a brave onslaught from the National Super League (NSL) side to become the last team in the 2019/20 SPL roster with Frank Nambute, who was on the scoresheet last weekend in Narok giving the mailmen a 1-0 first half lead.

Stima who missed automatic promotion to the top flight on goal-difference on the final day of the NSL season hit back in the second half to set up a nervous finish to the contest but John Kamau's side held on to send their opponents back to the second tier.

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It was the third time in a row since the SPL/NSL play-off was introduced to domestic football in 2017 that a side from the top tier has survived the axe with Rangers following Mt. Kenya United FC (formerly Nakumatt FC) and Kamau's former side Thika United FC in winning the two-legged affair. 

Ominously for the mailmen, the teams that won the play-off went down automatically the subsequent season and the onus for Kamau and club bosses is who they will avoid a relegation dogfight when the 2019/18 SPL kicks off in August.

Seasoned defender and set-piece specialist Jockins Atudo and Nambute had given the mailmen a first leg advantage at Karuturi Grounds in Naivasha and it did not take the latter long to leave a permanent mark on this fixture when he extended the advantage to 3-1.

It took only three minutes for the striker to find Stima napping in defence to notch the opener to get Rangers off to a flying start and it would have even been better in the 11th when Nambute was brilliantly denied a brace by Jacob Osano in the Stima goal.

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With their tails up, the SPL outfit that finished 16th in the final 2018/19 standings continued dominating the game and Marsellus Ingotsi, their most threatening Rangers player in the first half, left two Stima defenders in his wake before squaring it to Simon Mbugua but Osano was alert to the danger once more. 

Heart-stopping save

Stima had their keeper to thank yet again when he produced a heart-stopping save to deny Brian Osumba what looked certain to be a second goal of the day for Rangers after Ingotsi brought down the ball and flicked it on to his teammate in the 21st.

Four minutes later, Stima hit back in their first meaningful attack when Brian Musa's volley cannoned back from the upright in what was a start warning to the SPL side that the contest was well and truly alive.

Shela Mandela from the NSL side and Joseph Shikokoti traded yellow cards as chances dropped from the half hour with the first half ending with a free-kick from Atudo from a promising position clearing the cross bar.

A minute after the restart, it was game on when Evans Mafuta's charges equalised through Dennis Oalo with a thunderous right foot finish that beat Rangers keeper, Gradus Ochieng' all ends up.

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With the SPL side reeling, substitute Victor Omune almost put his team in front and levelled the contest on aggregate but his deflected effort was kept out by the Rangers keeper four minutes later.

Rejuvenated, the second tier power men charged forward in search of the next goal and in the 64th, Musa sent an effort from range inches wide before Omune somehow missed from close range in a goal mouth scramble that left custodian Ochieng' on the ground just a minute later.

Stima then saw appeals for a penalty in the 71st turned down for an apparent foul on their striker Hillary Ojwang' turned down by the referee and when the forward got up, the ball landed perfectly for him but his snap strike grazed the woodwork on its way out, Rangers surviving by the skin of their teeth.

It could have been worse when Shikokoti abandoned caution and attempted an overhead kick to clear his lines only for the ball to miss his own net by a few inches in what would have been the most embarrassing of own goals.

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Oalo had a chance to stretch the play-off to penalties in the 90th when he was put through on goal by Musa but to the horror of his teammates and technical bench, shot straight at Ochieng' effectively ending their SPL dream for at least another season.

Rangers- who were hanging on by a thread- then saw off the last few minutes- to complete the most nervy of wins and secure their top flight status.