Bernard Mwalala and Dennis Oliech watch Mohammed Yaacoubi's unusual clearance

Group Five leaders Morocco were held to a goalless draw by Kenya in Saturday's World Cup and Cup of Nations qualifier in Nairobi.

The result leaves Morocco two points clear at the top of the group but will give second-placed Tunisia the opportunity to gain pole position in August.

The reigning African champions have a game in hand on their north African rivals and are due to face the Kenyans at home on 17 August.

"The pitch was not good for us because we play technical football so we could not control the ball well; it was too rough," Morocco coach Badou Zaki said.

The referee was biased against us. I hope something will be done to discipline him Kenya coach Mohammed Kheri

Kenya's Harambee Stars were looking for a victory that would see them leapfrog Guinea into third-place and a Nations Cup spot.

Yet they missed a host of chances in the second half and their first draw of the qualifying campaign leaves them on ten points, trailing the Guineans by just one point.

Elsewhere, Botswana beat Malawi 3-1 in Blantyre to go a point behind Kenya.

Group Five table

Tshepiso Molwantwa opened the scoring after ten minutes after being teed up by Dipsy Selolwane, who doubled Botswana's lead shortly before the break.

Russel Mwafulirwa, who came on as a second-half substitute, halved the deficit for Malawi when he latched onto a loose ball to fire home moments into the second period.

The team is young and will get better in time Malawi coach Yassin Osman

Despite late Malawian pressure, Botswana secured the points when Tshepo Motlhabankwe fired home with just three minutes to play.

"For a home team, we were not aggressive enough and allowed the vistors to dominate," Malawi coach Yassin Osman told BBC Sport.

Malawi, who have failed to win one of their eight World Cup qualifiers, stay bottom of the group with three points.