Gor Mahia go down to Sofapaka 3-1
Gor Mahia’s march to the 2019-2020 Kenya Premier League title was slowed down on Saturday at Narok when they went down 3-1 to Sofapaka.
Additional reporting from futaa.com
Sofapaka got their revenge in Narok after stunning Gor Mahia 3-1 in a Kenyan Premier League clash played on Saturday 8th.
High flying Sofapaka got themselves ahead seconds after kick-off with a brilliant header from Chinonso. However, Samuel Onyango leveled the scores in the 15th minute. In the second half, John Baraza’s men had a brilliant display and restored their lead through Chinonso who grabbed his brace. Minutes to stoppage time Ikekhai Sunday’s stunning goal put the game beyond Gor Mahia’s reach.
Chinonso opener
Sofapaka took the lead inside 28 seconds of play through Promise Chinonso who headed in a cross from close range. Gor Mahia lost the possession after kick and Sofapaka took the chance to counter, Esieche had the ball on the left before delivering a searching pass to Chinonso, who made no mistake by nodding home to hand his side an early lead.
K’Ogalo were on a mission to respond after going down early. Confusion at the back saw Juma Balinya get the ball outside the 18 area, he took a shot which was parried by Richard Aimo with the ball hitting the post.
Equalizer
Gor Mahia found the equalizer in the 15th minute from a corner. Kenneth Muguna stepped up to deliver a corner that met Samuel Onyango who was in between two Sofapaka defenders and the Green Army were level.
Another attack from the men in green was on the cards, Balinya had the ball on the right, delivered a searching pass to Onyango, who was left one on one with the keeper but failed to beat Aimo from close range.
Chinonso brace
In the second half, Sofapaka were controlling the match, making a number of attempts with Gor Mahia forced to clear the ball from the line twice. In the 55th minute, Sofapaka restored their lead through Chinonso. Captain Asieche delivered a beautiful corner that was headed in by unmarked Chinonso.
Ikekhai stunner
With 6 minutes remaining to stoppage time, Sofapaka grabbed the third goal and it was an absolute stunner. The hosts had a throw-in on the right side, Gor’s defence failed to clear the danger fully with the ball landing on Ikekhai Sunday’s leg. He took a touch before unleashing a hard shot that beat Mapigano.
Guys we lost….opps sorry Augumentung fund
coach you gave out that match why ondiek in defense ,he is a sluggish midfielder, there are many defenders at gor why can’t you train one ,there was also poor goal keeping as per me
GMAF Direct is saddened by this untimely loss…we pray for quick recovery come Wednesday.
Soafapaka were celebrating like they had won the league. This league will go all the way to the last day. Tighten your seatbelts.
Sawa sawa kabisa
Even Juventus were beaten by Hellas Verona, that’s the nature of good football; you can’t beat every team everyday.
Ndugu @okaka, seems like it’s been a while since you last watch GM play.We always struggle to get a win huko Narok.I tend to think Miheso lacks conviction, his crosses are not dangerous as a left footer, the coach could train Agogo on that wing,wasaidiane.The desire to win from the captain is commendable. Coach at GM level, it’s disappointing to see a player (no pressure from opponent ) give away possession -miss pass.Bytheway whats happening to Joash( u’star imeingia kwa kichwa ama nini) beste yuko down.Hope we will switch of kplc next.
Agreed you win some and lose others. That was not our day for sure, everyone appeared sloppy. You now see how sweet it is to beat a champion, see the celebration by sofapaka and all Gor haters. We live to fight another day.
The loss of that margin is shocking three goals to one, too much we want to prepare a team to compete favourably in the champions league let the coach looking at the areas we messed up in and improve on them I know that gor is a team of characters we can recover from this shock quicker.
The loss of that margin is shocking three goals to one, too much we want to prepare a team to compete favourably in the champions league let the coach looking at the areas we messed up in and improve on them I know that gor is a team of characters we can recover from this shock quicker.
Our let down during this Sofapaka match are
1. Right back, most Sofapaka attacks were from that side
2. Defensive midfielder: Joash is normally very shaky when there isn’t good coverage, for Sofapaka we need a ruthless midfielder like Wendo. That role was used by Sofapaka, sadly our former player Cecidy Okeyo played that role, he thwarted all the moves by Kogalo midfield, the reason for Sofapaka celebration after the match.
3. Our goalkeeper isn’t sharp in long balls, most of the goals Kogalo has conceded this season are when Mapigano is in goal. Bonny has conceded very few goals. It is a fact that Bonny has been sharper than Mapigano this season.
4.Coach should ensure that this is the time to field a winning outfit. For the right back position Godfrey Ochieng played it very well when he substituted Ondiek when Kogalo beat Sofapaka in Kisumu.
For Kogalo to run away with the KPL trophy we need to win the next four matches to reach 56 points, the first team to hit 60 points runs with the league. The only threat here is Tusker. We must beat Tusker in our return leg.
5. Finally Gor Mahia Kogalo is a great club any team that manages to beat us always celebrate as if they have won the league. I am sure Sofapaka will perform poorly in their next matches just like Kakamega homeboyze is not performing very well as before. Mathare United isn’t performing very I am sure they are preparing for Kogalo return match remember they beat us in the first leg
Good analysis there David
Thanks Joe, we also need to be very careful, this is the time teams like Tusker and referees fix matches to frustrate Kogalo. The last time Tusker won KPL there was suspicion of match fixing. Their last match against AFC and the score was tusker beat AFC 1- 0 in Afraha Stadium one can notice the semblance of scores with last weekend