Samuel Ndung’u grabbed a first-half brace as Bidco United beat a weakened Ulinzi Stars 3-0 in an FKF Premier League duel hosted at the Kasarani Annex on Monday afternoon.
Ulinzi coach Bernard Mwalala kept his word and rested a number of his top guns like Boniface Muchiri, Hillary Simiyu, Enosh Ochieng and Bernard Ongoma ahead of Saturday’s Mozzart Bet Cup tie against Tusker. Lucas Maina, Elly Saenyi, Mark Bikokwa and Alex Masinde were handed rare starts.
The wholesale changes expectedly weakened the soldiers and a third-minute goal-line clearance from Bonaventure Muchika denied United an early breakthrough. It was followed by a superb 12th-minute save from keeper Stephen Ochieng to deny Lameck Oloo.
The goal did finally come in the 19th minute when Samuel Ndung’u raced through on goal and fired past Ochieng. Four minutes later Lucas Indeche pulled a huge save to deny Issa Lumumba from a distance.
United continued to run the show and were rewarded with a second goal in the 32nd minute. They won the ball deep into their own half and set up Ndungu who raced through and beat Ochieng with another low shot into the bottom left corner.
Sensing that a rout could be in the offing, made Mwalala made two defensive changes in the 37th minute. Elly Saenyi and Peter Glen were taken off for Swaleh Chacha and Omar Mbongi. United took a 2-0 lead to the break.
Mwalala made further changes after the interval. Mark Bikokwa and John Kago were rested for Bernard Ongoma and Enosh Ochieng.
The changes appeared to have revitalized the soldiers who looked a little more threatening going forward but were still kept at bay by United’s backline.
Bidco got the third goal of the game in the 69th minute through Ezekiel Okare who squeezed the ball through keeper Ochieng’s legs after he had failed to gather a Peter Nzuki delivery from a free kick. His claims of a foul were rubbished by the ref.
The soldiers resorted to long balls after the third goal in search of goals but Nzuki and Francis Oduor at the back kept clearing their deliveries.
The win sees Bidco move upto 12th with 34 points while Ulinzi maintain their 8th place with 44 points.
