At Gusii Stadium in Kisii, APS Bomet produced a remarkable late fightback to draw 3–3 with high-flying Shabana in FKF Premier League action on Saturday. In a match that swung wildly across the 90 minutes, the relegation-threatened hosts scored twice in a minute after going down to ten men, denying Shabana a victory that would have further strengthened their top-four position. The result leaves APS Bomet still marooned near the bottom, while Shabana’s impressive away record remains intact but with a sense of opportunity missed.
First Half
The game exploded into life almost immediately. With barely a minute played, APS Bomet struck the opener, taking a 1–0 lead at 1'. The early breakthrough set the tone for a frantic contest and briefly suggested the struggling hosts might finally turn their season around in front of their own fans.
Shabana, however, responded with the composure expected of a side starting the day in fourth place. On 19', Olega levelled the score for the visitors, making it 1–1 and restoring parity before the match could settle into any rhythm. That equaliser ensured the sides went into the interval tied, reflecting a half defined more by its key moments than by any clear control from either team. With no cards shown and only the two goals recorded in the opening 45 minutes, both managers would have felt the game was still very much there to be seized after the break.
Second Half
If the first half was balanced, the second half initially belonged to Shabana on the scoreboard. Just two minutes after the restart, at 47', the visitors completed the turnaround with another goal to move 2–1 ahead. That strike shifted the psychological weight of the contest firmly onto APS Bomet, who suddenly had to chase the game against one of the league’s most resilient away sides.
Shabana tightened their grip on the result on 65', adding a third to make it 3–1. At that stage, the gulf between a team in the relegation places and one pushing at the upper end of the table seemed stark. APS Bomet’s task became even more daunting when they were reduced to ten men by a red card in the 78', leaving them a goal down and a player short with time running out.
Yet the dismissal appeared to galvanise, rather than break, the hosts. In a dramatic late surge, APS Bomet pulled a goal back at 81', cutting the deficit to 3–2 and injecting new life into the contest. Astonishingly, just a minute later at 82', they struck again to make it 3–3. Two goals in as many minutes, while down to ten men, transformed what looked like a routine away win for Shabana into a breathless draw. The closing stages, though not documented with further events, would have been played under intense pressure for Shabana, who had to protect a point that had seemed guaranteed only moments earlier.
Statistical deep dive
Detailed match statistics are not available, but the pattern of scoring offers clues about the balance of play. Shabana, with three unanswered goals from 19' to 65', showed the kind of attacking efficiency that has underpinned their strong season, especially away from home where they had not lost in eight previous trips. APS Bomet’s ability to score three times against such opposition, including twice after going a man down, suggests a more incisive attacking display than their season-long numbers – just 15 goals in 16 games before this match – would indicate.
Without possession or passing data, it is impossible to quantify who controlled the ball, but the ebb and flow of the scoreline implies Shabana managed long stretches of the second half before APS Bomet’s late surge. Discipline clearly played a role: the single red card, shown to APS Bomet at 78', might have been expected to kill the contest, yet instead it framed the game’s defining twist, underscoring both the hosts’ resilience and Shabana’s inability to close out a winning position.
Standings and implications
In the broader FKF Premier League picture, the draw is bittersweet for both sides. APS Bomet, who began the day 16th with 14 points, remain in the relegation zone with a negative goal difference of -6 from 15 scored and 21 conceded. This comeback point, however, offers a psychological boost and hints at renewed fight in their battle to escape the drop.
For Shabana, starting fourth with 27 points and a goal difference of +4, a 3–1 lead that slipped into a 3–3 draw feels like two points dropped rather than one gained. Their unbeaten away record remains, but failing to beat a team in the relegation places could prove costly in a tightly packed race for the upper positions of the table as the season’s second half unfolds.
