The result now leaves the host with a daunting task of beating Tanzania in the last Group ‘A’ to book a place in the semi-finals

Kenya’s chance of progressing to the next phase of Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup now hangs in the balance after Libya beat Zanzibar by a solitary goal in the last Group match on Monday.

The result now leaves the host with a daunting task of beating Tanzania in the last Group ‘A’ to book a place in the semi-finals.

Libya’s win relegated Kenya to third in the Group with five points and they must now win against Kilimanjaro Stars to be assured of remaining in the competition.

With Zanzibar securing the first slot in semis and Tanzania and Rwanda are already out of the tournament, Kenya must beat Tanzania to grab the available final slot.

Alharaish Zakaria scored the lone goal in the first half with a powerful left-foot shot from outside Zanzibar’s box to hand his side a deserved lead in the 24th minute.

Zanzibar defender Issa Dau paid for the prize of poor ball-control when Tubal Mohammed stole the ball from his feet to set up Zakari, who unleashed a long-range shot that gave Mohammed Abdurahama no chance.

The North African could have doubled their advantage 11 minutes later but Zanzibar were saved by the crossbar from another long-range shot by the throbbing Libyan side.

The Mediterranean Knights had worked out a plan to silence Zanzibar more so in the second half when they occasionally mounted counter attacks while retreating back to their defence in numbers whenever Zanzibar made any meaningful threat.

Ibrahim Ahmada was denied by Azak Ahmed in the 78 with a finger-tip save mid second half as Zanzibar pushes for an equalizer. At the end of 90-minutes, it was Libya, who came out top with three points that temporarily pushed Kenya to the third spot.