Thika United held Ushuru 0-0 at Narok Stadium on Sunday to win their two-leg promotion play-off 2-1 on aggregate and cement their place in the SportPesa Premier League for next season.
Thika had won the first leg 2-1 on Thursday and needed, at worst, any kind of a draw of secure their place in top flight football.
The two-leg encounter pitted the 16th placed finisher (Thika United) from SportPesa Premier League and second runner up (Ushuru)from the Football Kenya Federation National Super League last season.
Thika United coach Nicholas Muyoti said the result just reflected the form of his side in the latter stages of the SPL where they remained unbeaten in nine of their last 10 matches.
“Thika came with the mentality to defend their first leg win. They wanted a draw from the word go but it’s a game of football,” said a dejected Ushuru coach Ken Kenyatta.
Thika though showed plenty of positiveness. Their lead striker Eugene Mukangula squandered a glorious chance in the 20th minute when Saad Tsuma laid a through pass to him, but he shot directly at the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation.
The visitors won two corners in quick succession in the 27th minute as they looked to kill the match but none yielded fruits.
With the aggregate scores 2-1 in Thika’s favour they still showed similar enterprise in the second stanza and on this account, could be considered the deserved winners of the promotion berth.
