Macharia strikes at the death as Tusker sink Wazito to stretch lead

"When I'm in the yellow and black jersey I always feel so much at home. I'm more successful when I'm in yellow and black. The history speaks for itself on that part."

Those are the words of Francis Kimanzi during his official unveiling as Wazito coach on November 19 last year.

Here, he was inheriting a team that had emerged out of preseason more disjointed than they began. Wazito banked on Kimanzi's proven track record at Mathare United and Tusker to steady their ship.

While he won the league title with Mathare United in 2008, he is credited for creating the foundation for Tusker's league and domestic cup double in 2016 thus his remarks that his best coaching days are in teams that have yellow jerseys.

Sacked by Tusker in 2015 just before his project took off, Kimanzi must have felt this fixture was a prime opportunity to show why he is still considered by many the best coach in the country.

But Jackson Macharia, one of his signings while at Tusker, had other ideas as he scored the winner with the last kick of the game.

This was a day Kimanzi wanted to make history against his former employers having already guided Wazito to their best start to a campaign since its formation.

Wazito had never beaten Tusker in a league fixture before this encounter and with both sides in the top three, the stage was set for a cagey affair.

It's no wonder the first real chance arrived in the 34th minute and surprisingly it was from a set-piece.

Wazito, who had new signing Levis Opiyo in goal, made full use of his ball playing talents to build from the back but on this occasion, Tusker forward Crispinus Onyango fancied his chances to pounce on a loose pass.

Sensing danger with Wazito centre backs spread out wide, Fidel Origa came flying at Onyango with his two feet and he was lucky to escape with only a yellow card.

Hashim Sempala stung Opiyo's palms with a rasping drive from the resultant free kick with the goalkeeper going full stretch to his right to deny the Ugandan.

Boniface Omondi should have put Wazito ahead shortly after the restart when he raced towards goal from a counter attack situation but his effort rolled narrowly wide off target with Tusker keeper Emery Mvuyekure well beaten.

Then Tusker youngster Henry Meja showed a glimpse of why Harambee Stars coach Jacob "Ghost" Mulee has included him in his team for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Togo and Egypt next month.

Luke Namanda beat the offside trap before bursting into the Wazito box just on time to back heel a lovely through ball from Apollo Otieno into the path of Meja.

With Opiyo off his line and some purple shirts recovering to defend, Meja dribbled away from the target to find space to shoot and when he finally did his effort was awful, flying way off target.

Moments later, Onyango clipped a pass over the Wazito defence that was beautifully controlled by Meja on his laces. The youngster took another touch to line up his shot only to be denied by the bar.

The last evidence that the progidy is still a rough diamond arrived in Tusker's next foray initiated by a goal kick from Mvuyekure. The ball bounced kindly for Meja who beat an onrushing Opiyo to the ball but his finish, from a tight angle, could only find the side netting.

Robert Matano made a triple substitution introducing the football brains of Humphrey Mieno and Jackson Macharia as well as the tricky legs of George "Blackberry" Odhiambo yet there was no respite.

Odhiambo's cutback was poor after sneaking past the Wazito defence while Mieno's volley from the edge of the box would only count on a rugby pitch as a conversion.

But it's Macharia who saved the best for the last. When both sides looked destined to share the spoils, Macharia sealed maximum points for the leaders at the death.

Johnstone Omurwa made a hush of his clearance and the loose ball fell to Macharia who showed the guile of a man on an afternoon stroll.

He tricked Opiyo that he was going for power and the goalkeeper fell on his knees allowing Macharia to calmly slot home and send the Tusker bench to a frenzy.

In the end, the yellow shirts were all smiles and now look like worthy title contenders with 26 points from 11 matches.

"As a team we have both the winning and fighting mentality. We do not give up until the final whistle and that is what helped today. When I introduced Jackson, I instructed him to use his experience to punish them (Wazito) for the mistakes they were making. I am happy he did exactly that to give us the win," said Robert Matano after the match.

Wazito, six points behind the leaders in third place, are still a work in progress and Kimanzi will acknowledge that more needs to be done especially defensively to enjoy success in the yellow and black of Wazito at least on the evidence of this performance.

"It is the nature of the game. The match was tough and the concentration of the players lapsed a bit. It is a gift that we have given them and what we need to do is to motivate the players and prepare well for our next match," said Kimanzi.