Elite Pre-season Cup: Chris Ochieng’s strike sinks City Stars as Bidco extend fine early form

©Elite Preseason Cup

FOOTBALL Elite Pre-season Cup: Chris Ochieng’s strike sinks City Stars as Bidco extend fine early form

Mark Kinyanjui 13:03 - 07.08.2023

Ochieng's strike was enough to give Bidco all three points in their opening fixture of the Elite Pre-Season Cup against City Stars.

A wonderfully crafted strike from Chris Ochieng’ was enough as Bidco United sank Nairobi City Stars 1-0 at the Utalii Grounds on Monday to get their Elite Pre-season Cup campaign off to a good start.

It is the second year in a row that the Elite Preseason Cup has taken place, with the inaugural competition taking place at a time Kenya was still facing the year-long ban imposed by FIFA due to government interference in football.

It was a match that was fairly even, with none of the two teams really creating inroads into each others’ final thirds very often, with the first half not producing anything meaningful to write home about.

In the second half, Bidco decided to make wholesale changes before the restart.

New signing Brian Mboya twice came close to breaking the deadlock, first in the 49th minute, and second in the 52nd minute.

He forced Edwin Mukolwe who was turning up against his former side into making a good save for the first attempt, but the second went just wide of the mark.

Sharif Musa also had a chance to put Bidco ahead, but his shot was not enough to give Mukolwe something to ponder.

Samuel Kapen should have given Nairobi City Stars the lead in the 61st minute but the player somehow miscued his effort with the goal at his mercy.

The opening goal finally came in the 64th minute through Ochieng. The attacker's low shot from the edge of the area beat Mukolwe after a well-constructed 17-pass move.

Kapen had a great opportunity in the 75th minute from a freekick but his thunderous effort narrowly missed the target.

The result now means Bidco have amassed 3 points.

Later, Posta Rangers will be taking on Kariobangi Sharks at the same venue from 2 PM.