AFC Leopards legend Francis Xavier blamed Kenya Premier League organisers for the league’s golden boot’s late drama between Kakamega Homeboyz striker Allan Wanga and his Ulinzi Stars counterpart Enosh Ochieng.
Speaking to a local media outlet on Thursday, Xavier faulted KPL for seemingly denying Wanga ‘a well-deserved’ golden boot award.
“KPL you are a football disgrace. Why did you use unorthodox rule to deny Wanga an award he has really worked hard for? I hold my congratulatory message to Enosh Ochieng, ” he said.
Xavier was reacting to varied views views by football fans on the golden boot tussle between Wanga and Ochieng.
Prior to the material day of the KPL 2018/19 season, Wanga was leading the top scorer charts with 18 goals, one ahead of his closest challenger Ochieng.
Normally, the last league matches are played on the same day of the given campaign to avoid any foul play, but this was not the case.
All KPL matches were scheduled to end on May 29 in various venues, but that never happened as the fixture pitting Ulinzi Stars and the relegated Mt Kenya United was postponed due to the visiting team carrying match kits of a similar colour to the home side.
This forced KPL to reschedule the match to June 2 at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru.
Basically, Ulinzi deserved to snatch easy walk over points but KPL had decided otherwise.
The postponed fixture was finally replayed as communicated and it was a good day for Ochieng in his relentless pursuit for the coveted gong.
The lethal finisher utilised the advantage by grabbing a hat trick to increase his tally to 20 goals, two ahead of Wanga and automatically winning the award.
However, the particular scenario fueled sharp criticism from the premier league’s fan base, most of them accusing KPL of denying Wanga the accolade in favour of Ochieng, rubbing more salt to Wanga’s wound after the late African Cup of Nations snub by the national team coach.