It was the 3rd season in a row that Sharks was playing in the domestic Cup Final and expectations were rightfully high. Though the boys have had a difficult season, their specialty in the cup competition was a huge boosting factor going into the Saturday afternoon encounter. On their side, the opponents were 2015 Cup winners, in what was their only appearance in this Cup final.

It was the Mombasa based side who took the lead early on, with Mwana Yema beating an offside trap to fire past Gad Mathew in just the 2^nd minute of play. The boys then settled in and started stringing in some passes. It should have been level on the 15^th minute but Erick Kapaito shot from inside the penalty area went just inches wide.

A mix-up in the midfield then saw a miss pass pounced on by Mwana Yema who doubled the lead for the Dockers, firing in from the near post giving them a healthy 2 goal advantage. The goal seemed to awaken the boys and they finally got one back after minutes of sustained pressure courtesy of a Patilla Omoto thunderbolt from the edge of the penalty box.

Match-rained off

The heavens opened up during the half time forcing the referee to call off the match with the 2^nd half to be continued tomorrow.

Resumption

The 2^nd half resumed from 11:00 a.m. with both sides returning with unchanged squads. The coach introduced Julius Masaba for James Mazembe in the 50^th minute of play and George Abege for Kapaito in the 68^th minute but nothing could break the opponents’ defense line.

The Mombasa based side then extended their lead after Benjamin Mosha lashed on a long ball that beat the entire Sharks defence line and beat the keeper with his first touch. Vincent Wasambo then came in for Sven Yidah with 10 minutes of play left and he almost scored from a goal mouth melee but his chance was cleared of the line.

The final whistle was blown with the score line at 1-3 and the boys ended the season with a disappointing result.

They shall take a two week break before returning to training in preparation for the exhibition match against Everton slated for July 7^th 2019.

Starting XI: Gad Mathews, Eric Juma ©, Tom Teka, Geoffrey Shiveka, Bonface Onyango, Sven Yidah, Duke Abuya, Patilla Omoto, James Mazembe, Erick Kapaito, Harrison Mwendwa.

SUBS: John Oyemba, Patrick Ngunyi, James Masaba, George Abege, Vincent Wasambo, Nixon Omondi, Shaphan Oyugi.