Murangiri powers Strathmore past K.U in Saturday's KHF thriller

He might have scored just four goals in the match, but Brian Murangiri's buzzer beater was the most important for Strathmore University as it powered the Peter Mwathi-coached side past a resilient Kenyatta University side in a 23-22 scoreline.

The highlight match of the Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) men's league match on its return from the December- January break lived up to expectations with the winner a mystery until the last three seconds of the clash. 

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As expected, it was a close game but K.U went ahead 5-7 forcing Mwathi into a timeout to restrategise. The Thika Road based varsity side was relentless and within 15 minutes, they had gone 5-9 up. 

Their game plan did not bore the results they would have wanted and they found themselves 9-11 down as the half-time whistle went. 

"This was a tricky match but that was expected. K.U led all through but our last play saved us. They capitalised on a play we were making leaving the goal open, when we have less players on the court due to suspensions. When we lose the ball it was easy for them to score. 

I am, however, happy that the players kept fighting to the last second of the game even when we were trailing," Mwathi offered. 

Strathmore clawed back from two goals down to come to within a goal of equaling the score at 10-11. 

Samuel Mutuku was successively denied the chance to equalise, for Strathmore, first by the cross bar and again by the K.U shot stopper but Mwathis were level at 12 goals. 

Another rally ensued and Strathmore found themselves four goals down at 16-18 with about 20 minutes of play left. 

With 47 minutes played, the score was level at 18, Mwathi's charges having capitalised on K.U's lapse in defense to bag gour back-to-back. 

K.U still led by a goal in the dying minutes of the match and looked well on their way to winning the clash but Strathmore equalised at 22 goals with less than a minute on the clock. 

K.U had missed back-to-back seven-metre shots that, if scored, would have put the game out of Strathmore's reach within the last two minutes of the game. 

Such misses came back to bite as their attempt at goal for a winner with ten seconds on the clock went over the bar giving Strathmore the chance to bag the winner. 

The restart from the keeper was quick, and K.U had no response for Murangiri who was in the right place at the right time, the pass getting to him on the right wing with only two defenders whom he beat to slot his efforts near post for the winner. 

K.U had no time to respond and painfully went down 23-22 much to the disappointment of their fans who were on the stands chanting 'hii imeenda' (loosely translated to mean they have the win) for the better part of the game. 

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"This is just part of sport. We were prepared for this match but some things did not work for us. We were not clinical on attack and lost numerous chances that would have put this game to bed early. 

Defensively we were better but there was more we could have done. On the final play, I saw the chance to change position and get the ball and attempt for goal and luckily for us it worked," Murangiri explained adding that the squad never lost faith in winning the match despite trailing for the better part of the match. 

K.U's Morgan Simiyu emerged the match's top scorer with seven goals while Mutuku topped Strathmore's chart with five goals.