Nairobi — City Stars stunned Ulinzi Stars with two late goals after 90 minutes, coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 with the army side and progress to the semi-final of the Elite Pre-Season tournament on Monday evening.
The soldiers had marched ahead with goals from Clinton 'Aguero' Omondi and Boniface Muchiri, but Herrit Mungai's wonder goal at the stroke of 90 minutes and Peter 'Pinchez' Opiyo's in the 97th minute earned City Stars a draw.
With the draw, City Stars have assured themselves of finishing in the top two and are through to the semis while Ulinzi wil have to wait for the final group match pitting Police FC and second tier side MCF.
Policre are on two points and will need to win by a good margin to dislodge Ulinzi off second place while the NSL side have no points and are already out of the tournament.
"We have learnt lessons from this tournament and the result didn't matter as much. This is why we decided to play, to see these kinds of mistakes and correct before the season starts," said new Ulinzi Stars head coach Bernard Mwalala.
His opposite number Nicholas Muyoti was pleased with the effort of his players. "What an effort from the boys! I am really impressed. We dominated this game so much but we were punished with our own mistakes. But we gave a good fight and ensured we had a point."
Omondi broke the deadlock in sensational fashion with a brilliant curling strike that perched into the top left corner from the edge of the box.
They doubled their lead in the 56th minute when Boniface Muchiri who had stepped off the bench scored the second with a scorching volley after Masita Masuta flicked a long throw from Shannel Makwatta.
Muchiri came close to a double late on but his cracking effort from a freekick was pushed to the upright by the keeper.
City Stars struck one back at the stroke of 90 minutes, Mungai scoring with a brilliant effort from almost 40 yards that caught keeper James Saruni off guard.
The goal motivated City Stars and they kept dumping balls in the area. They were rewarded in the seventh minute of added time when Opiyo stretched to direct an Elvis Noor cross into the net.
