Gor Mahia 0 Ulinzi Stars 0
courtesy of the Standard
Gor Mahia dropped another two crucial points after being held to a barren draw by a 10-man Ulinzi Stars at City Stadium on Wednesday but still went top of the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) log. Ulinzi Stars captain Stephen Ocholla was given his matching orders after picking two yellows, but K’Ogalo failed to utilise their numerical advantage to secure all the three points.
The first half of the match was mostly uneventful with none of the teams coming closer to breaking the deadlock. Ulinzi Stars had the first shot on goal in the 16th minute but Steven Waruru’s effort did not seem to bother Jerim Onyango in between the Gor Mahia’s posts. Gor Mahia had the best chance to score when Timothy Otieno was denied by James Saruni in goal from a one-one situation in the 37th minute. The game came alive in the second half as both teams pushed forward in search of a goal.
In a high-tempered second half, Ulinzi Stars captain Stephen Ocholla was sent off for a second bookable offence. However, the player had to be pulled off the pitch by Ulinzi Stars’ technical bench as he protested his send-off even as a section of Gor Mahia fans threw missiles onto the pitch. Apart from the incident, there was slightly more action in the second half compared to the first half with the KPL champions having more chances in front of their opponent’s goal.
New coach Frank Nuttall rested Daniel Onyango for Patrick Oboya in a move that ensured more balls got to the front men. Five minutes after coming on, Patrick Oboya beat his marker but was hacked just outside the Ulinzi box. Godfrey Kizito took the resultant free kick going for goal with a powerful shot but the effort was headed out for the first corner of the second half.
Then at the one-hour mark, Oboya found himself at the end of a Dan Sserunkuma pass but he slid and the final shot lacked power to beat James Saruni in goal. The soldiers then rested their top scorer Steven Waruru for John Nairuka as they sought more punch upfront. Ulinzi coach Robert Matano protested the send-off and accused the centre referee Amos Ichingwa of making unnecessary calls aimed at frustrating his team. “Some of the calls made by Ichingwa were not necessary. They only brought a lot of tension to the game and were aimed at frustrating us. The red card on Ocholla should not have been as the player kicked the ball convinced that the whistle may have been blown by one of the fans,” he said.
Nuttall said his players should have taken advantage of their numerical strength to win the match. “We did not take advantage of the situation. We must learn to be more lethal upfront,” he said.
A draw against 10 man does not sound good at all, but how often have we drawn against 10 man teams? I think the team simply lacks character and is not clinical in front of goal….PERIOD. Now I understand what BW said about the team that won the league last year!!!!!!!! What became of ssemazi, obwoge and emuge ?
Usually the most consistent team wins the kenyan league, Sofapaka is too erratic to win the league, if we can beat chemilil and bandari in the next 2 games then I don’t see how we can not be crowned champions!!! A draw or a loss in the next two games and we can as well forget the title as tusker and chemilil will be firm favorites.
When was the last time gor mahia convincingly beat a team by a huge margin? Lack of confidence/self belief and weak attacking options would also explain why kogallo cannot whack a team 3-0, 4-0 or even 5-0 the type of score lines usually associated with tusker or sofapaka !!!!!
im convinced that Nutal has what it takes. watch this space, walusimbi will turn out to be the most sort after Player. the gamble worked well. we only need brilliant strikers and there we are.
nice game.
the stamina is picking. Musa mohammed is a pillar. I liked how oluoch and shakava paired. coach try Callabar upfront and you will see goals.
Another draw and we forget the leagues.We should have taken advantage of our games in hand.The league should have been won by now.
Pls spare us your negative comments. Our players also do read this site for information and they need to be encouraged. Its only in Kenya where a team sitting on top of the log having played a match less than their nearest challengers are told to forget about the league simply because they have drawn three matches running! This site is crying out for more intelligent and positive contributors to arise. If we don’t then this lot of negative commentators may just succeed in their mission. We will not allow them to sow the seed of doubt and fear in our team. Gor Mahia will still win the League to confound those claiming tht Tusker and Chemelil stand a better chance. The last time I checked, we were 3 points a head of Chemelil with 1 match at hand. They are coming up next at City Stadium. We beat them and we move to 6 points ahead having played 1 match less. As for Tusker, the gap remains to be 3 points having played the sme no of matches. Everybody will drop points so I plead wth you not to start beating the drum of failure on Gor Mahia. We will win title no 14 in 2014. May God bless Gor Mahia.
excellent game that was, moreso the defence was literally rock solid, everybody impressed and i must thank kevin oluoch for that magical clearance, KEVO, you are destined to go places. the good thing is that we still have the advantage and our nearest challengers to the title are neither home nor dry, so watu wasitutishie, chemilil are where they are because they lose less draw more and win some, that is a results oriented motto. we are on the driving seat, thats all that matters, we also need to acknowledge the fact that every team gives its best when playing kogalo, now it will dawn on them that beating kogalo HAS NEVER, IS NEVER AND WILL NEVER BE A WALK IN THE PARK. GO MA-MBOYS GO.
i think FN arrival was GOD SEND,considering the last two matches how physical & determined our opponents were,am sure it will be like so for the remaining fixtures.mahali imefika style doesnt matter ni points wichiever way we get them.i believe GM will retain the league bt we must urgently replace our scouts,surely we cant have 3/4 of our signings not being good enough,if its 1 or 2 -yes bt almost the whole lot of new signings!?.we lack bench power,creative mid & lethal 4wards bcoz of this.
@Le Pastre you have spoken like 100 people. Some of us were just born whiners. For heaven seek, Gor at the top of the table and Chemelil, Tusker et al are trailing. Why don’t we wait until its over then talk instead of the negative comments day in day out. How do we know that Chemelil and Tusker will win all their games? If they are that good, I do not understand why they are still trailing Kogallo with just a handful of matches remaining. This is the time to rally behind our beloved club. Let us spare the negative comments for after the last league match.
For God and my beloved club – Kogallo
Guys let us support this team.From what I saw at Tok Komwanda,we remain real title contenders if we can polish up our finishing and ensure our midfield is compact throughout the 90+mins.Timothy needs to emulate Danny and be patient in front of goal.First half saw a clear cut chance with Saruni one-on-one and he went for power instead of just looping the ball into an empty net over the helpless Saruni who was already on the ground.Let us beat Chemelil on Saturday and remove them from the contenders’ list.
Here is a preview of the remaining fixtures for the other teams considered title contenders.From what the fixtures reveal,theirs is also not a walk in the park either.
(A)TUSKER
FRI 19-09-14 16:15 Tusker vs City Stars
THU 25-09-14 14:00 Ulinzi Stars vs Tusker
SAT 04-10-14 14:00 Mathare United vs Tusker
SAT 18-10-14 16:15 Tusker vs Muhoroni Youth
SAT 25-10-14 14:00 KRA vs Tusker
SUN 02-11-14 15:00 Tusker vs Thika United
SAT 08-11-14 15:00 Tusker vs Sofapaka
(B)SOFAPAKA
SUN 21-09-14 15:00 Sofapaka vs Muhoroni Youth
SUN 05-10-14 15:00 Sony Sugar vs Sofapaka
SAT 18-10-14 15:00 Sofapaka vs KRA
SUN 26-10-14 16:15 Sofapaka vs Gor Mahia
SAT 01-11-14 15:00 AFC Leopards vs Sofapaka
SAT 08-11-14 15:00 Tusker vs Sofapaka
(C)CHEMELIL
SAT 20-09-14 15:00 Gor Mahia vs Chemelil Sugar
SAT 04-10-14 15:00 Chemelil Sugar vs Ulinzi Stars
SUN 19-10-14 14:00 KCB vs Chemelil Sugar
SUN 26-10-14 15:00 Chemelil Sugar vs AFC Leopards
SAT 01-11-14 14:00 KRA vs Chemelil Sugar
SAT 08-11-14 15:00 Thika United vs Chemelil Sugar
SAT 20-09-14 15:00 Gor Mahia vs Chemelil Sugar
(D)GOR MAHIA
SAT 20-09-14 15:00 Gor Mahia vs Chemelil Sugar
WED 24-09-14 16:00 Gor Mahia vs Bandari
SAT 04-10-14 16:15 City Stars vs Gor Mahia
SAT 18-10-14 15:00 Gor Mahia vs Mathare United
SUN 26-10-14 16:15 Sofapaka vs Gor Mahia
SUN 02-11-14 15:00 Muhoroni Youth vs Gor Mahia
SAT 08-11-14 15:00 Gor Mahia vs KRA
I still remain convinced that this title is ours to lose.Lets support these lads at this crucial and defining moment.TOGETHER WE ALL CAN.
Agreed the team requires support and motivation now.
On scouting we need to recruit new lads from Kisumu Day and Kakamega high school from the teams which reached secondary school finals before they lose their zeal.
Definitely criticizing the team at every bend and corner will never avail any positivity. Timothy Otieno really needs to pull up his socks as the world is moving very fast.
As for Ulinzi i wonder if they were in the pitch for football or other ulterior intention. I concur with the concern regarding our new signings.
Critisizing gor is not abormination. it’s obvious with the tactics other coaches are using against gor and it is not bad to share such sentiments as much as they sound like criticising. coaches are not out to play gor but they are out to play the gor fans to. keenly take note of tusker game. the plan seems to be obvious, have one player to rise the temperature of the game. in both games it was the players marking sserenkuma. the idea is to provoke a retaliation. but generally the teams against gor are all applying the same trick… and that is to try and provoke the crowd with rough play. my worry is that gor will not have enough players to bank on when the injuries start coming in coz one or to players will not make it to season end. gor EC must complain about the standard of reffering in kenya. most of these refferees cannot make it to international fixtures coz of such incompetencies. watching a much other african leagues eg nigeria, zimbabwe, SA u will notice major difference on how players tackle. i must say gor players are not any better. my point is that gor currently cannot afford the rough play hse that is the kenyan league. there is no backup and soonner or later gor will start losing matches. yesterdays match was rough-hse and it’s evident gor players were simply trying to survive. its a pity that coaches like matano et kimanzi use roughplay as a tactic.
As I said in my earlier post, this was a very important point gained. We are on top of the table with a match in hand. What else would one ask for? Secondly, Gor has become the most difficult team to beat by looking at the results. Tusker and Ulinzi wanted to beat us but we failed to lie down. Ama vipi
If some people’s wishes were to be granted then we would be having a new coach every now and then we draw or loose.
The team is good ,My cry has been that Timothy should really watched a number of games in the EPL so that he can learn how to score. Sometimes he uses a lot of energy unnecessarily.
Timothy you are on form but scoring? the day he will score the first game then he will know the beauty of scoring.
Thanks,
Thaddaeus
I can tell that we have a good coach and a motivated set of players. All we need to do is to support them. As it is we are still favourites and these were our bogey teams we were playing. All teams will lose points at some time so we have just to soldier on. As much as criticism is good let’s think about the good of the team
Let us support the team ,putting in consideration that the players that we have right know can not sustain the pressure like the last years players,most of them are still new a lot of pressure they will crush and we will miss the trophy so let us be very careful with what we are writing on these social sites.
It’s not easy to top the kpl at this point with only 6 rounds to play. For have done it and there we are. Let them waste time criticizing. The truth is that with the playing unit available, the boys have done their best and congrats to them, TB and the EC. Fans, you have been great and played your role really well. Give the coach time as I have confidence in him looking at the two games already played. Yesterday we were dominant over ulinzi and that’s why they opted for rough play and time wasting tactics.
In fact, Gor will take the league with one match to play. Watch this space.
congrats boys keep up onli Tomothy need to be accurate.Kevin should be given position as walusimbi can change our attacking n mid field.tomothy should always know there is a striker next to him who could also score.
coach is doing good work only that defense shold always remain compact as well as mid field then we shall be home n dry.
Young men, the luo say,’ winy goyo thumbe mopogore opogore to godhiambo to od winyo oseger orumo”
Meaning we all speak different but consructive points and at the end of the day the house is erected. Let everybody sing his song, let us build our nestle. Atho tinda.
let me take this opportunity to thank our AlmightyGod for bringing us this far ithink when a team is playing they expect a win adraw or a loss and that is what is happening in gor .But God is with us players just take one game at atime.go kogalo go…….
Well said Le Passtre.Its good to hear from you after a very long time.Anyuola version.Iwache maber thura,amor kawinjo kuomi bang ndalo mangeny!German version.Es freut mich sehr von dir zu horen seitdem eine lange zeit.
according to the latest posting on the official club website, its said that the match raised over 650.000.00, well on the lower side but only kogalo can raise such an amount in mid-week clash. now, what i dont understand is the statutory deductions of 50% of the amount, hope it is inclusive of players match remunerations?
Statutory deductions are like the 20% stadium charge, security, FKF % etc etc. It is usually close to 40% of the collections. Sounds like robbery. You wonder how much the other teams contribute. No wonder Tusker was accusing Gor of economic sabotage
Instead of lamenting over the draws, let us thank God for Sir Bobby’s return to the bench after that illness. It is great to have him back on his feet again. We should also thank God that our defense has managed to hold together so far. Why don’t we ask ourselves where we would be had we lost all the three matches?
outright robbery and yet they treat us with contempt, i think all the teams combined dont match the contribution of kogalo to the coffers.