Tobias Otieno features as Union Omaha tighten grip on top spot

Former Gor Mahia youngster Tobias Otieno who currently plies his trade in the United States with League One side Union Omaha made an appearance as his team thrashed New England II 4-2 on Sunday morning to go four points clear at the top of the table.

Named in the starting 11 of the matchday squad that went on to create history in the game, the 22-year-old managed 63 minutes of action under his belt before being replaced by Emir Alihodzic. Here is a wrap of how the action unfolded.

Union Omaha 4 -2 New England II

Omaha came into the game on the back of consecutive wins and contrastingly, New England came into the match on two successive defeats. After a first twenty minutes without goals, the game burst onto the scene just minutes later with two quickfire goals from both teams.

It was Omaha who struck first though. 24-year-old midfielder Greg Hurst giving the hosts the lead in the 21st minute as he made his intention of what was to come known in the game. New England, who sat in the bottom three after managing only one win so far in the campaign, quickly nullified the lead with Connor Presley finding the back of the net just two minutes later to restore parity in the game.

In the added minutes of the first half, with the game set to go to the halftime team talk on level pegging, Hurst managed to get his brace after a parried shot by the New England goalkeeper found its way to him for an easy tap in to restore Omaha's lead.

The midfielder picked up the tempo from where he left it as he sealed his first professional hat trick just two minutes upon the resumption of the second half, smart link-up play in the box before his curler found the bottom left corner.

Determined to get themselves back into the match, Michael Tsicoulias cut down the margin to one as he found New England's second in the 63rd minute after being set up by Justin Rennicks.

Substitute Alihodzic who had replaced Otieno then set up Devin Boyce for the fourth and final goal of the game in the 77th minute, Omaha emerging 4-2 victors as Hurst scored the very first-ever hat trick in the club's history and four being the highest number of goals ever scored by the home team in a match.

With the win, Omaha further tightened its grip on the top position. They now have 17 points, four ahead of second-place Greenville who have three games in hand.