Late strike salvages draw with Mathare
courtesy of goal.com
The ‘Slum Boys’ had looked destined to end K’Ogalo’s unbeaten record in Kenyan Premier League until Meddie Kagere scored the equalizer at Nyayo
Gor Mahia needed a second half goal from Meddie Kagere to snatch a vital point away from Mathare United in a Kenyan Premier League match played on Sunday at Nyayo Stadium.
Erick Johanna’s 28th minute goal was all the ‘slum boys’ needed to silence K’ogalo faithful and as things looked working for the home side, Meddie Kagere had other ideas as he made things even with less than fifteen minutes to go.
The goal was a delight of the otherwise anxious unforgiving fans, who until Sunday were confident their team will extend the gap at the top of the table by three points after Sofapaka’s slip against KCB on Saturday.
As usual the Nyayo Stadium was painted green with the ‘wuon timbe’ songs filling the otherwise quiet environment. The fourteen times defending champions looked confident of victory and they started on a high as early as the sixth minute as Godfrey Walusimbi’s dangerous cross was collected by Mathare’s custodiakn Peter Odhiambo, with Olunga waiting to capitalize on the mistake.
After that, both team resorted to a cautious play, with Mathare looking more defensive as compared to Gor Mahia, who are playing their final match before heading to Dar es Salaam to take part in Kagame Cup.
The ‘Slum Boys’ custodian had to be alert in the 22nd minute to parry a goal bound effort from Abouba Sibomana, with the resulting corner fruitless. Six minutes later, Johanna put the smile on Stanley Okumbi’s face, silencing thousands of the green army, who had turned out to witness the team roar to a routine victory.
The hosts goalkeeper was called into action again with four minutes to the break, this time from Olunga, who looked certain to make things even. It was the last meaningful action before the teams headed for the dressing room.
K’ogalo started the second half with intentions of equalizing and in the 50th minute, Walusimbi headed over after a cross from Nzigiyamana. Ali Abondo thought he had leveled the score a minute later, only to see his goal disallowed for offside.
With thirty minutes to go, Frank Nuttall made a game changing substitution, bringing in Enock Agwanda in place of injured Collins ‘Gattuso’ Okoth. From there own it was near misses for the champions, with Olunga, Kagere and Abondo all guilty, including the new man Agwanda, whose throws were problematic in the home side’s danger zone.
Finally, Kagere rose to the occasion later own in the match, as he made things even and ensuring the unbeaten run continues. As for Mathare United, the winless run stretches to seven matches, but will give themselves hopes after managing to get a point against the most in form team in the league.
Gor should just relax and enjoy the remaining games. After all they have already won the league. As a matter of fact club management should give the players an extra day off every week in Lou of bonuses.
somebody has found his teeth after 2 victories (despite all being unconvincing)… am sure u’ll disappear soon when Ingwe start losing….
How I wish this blog’s administrator could have added his take on the team’s performance today as he has always done in other articles.
That aside, in my view this was the worst display by the team this season, no wonder Ingo is so exited! One should have been forgiven to suspect that the players actually went ahead with their threatened go-slow. The good news is that the unbeaten run is intact and that it is happening with a few days to our opening match in the regional club championship. This gives time for the team to reassess itself and inject new commitment and determination. I consider it God-send because it should remind the players that Gor Mahia is not yet invincible, not yet indomitable and as such they must not rest on their laurels. It is just the reality check…..that look in the mirror that the team needs when things appear to be running smoothly.
It turns out that Mathare’s strategy was to cut off the supply lines and render our AMOK system paralysed. The strategy worked for them so well and almost ca tused the upset of the season. Lavasta was the main architect and was ably assisted with Eric Johana. In the regional championship we are bound to face much stronger opponents who I am sure will apply the same approach. Frank Nuttal and Sir Bobby Rateng’ wuod Ogolla must demonstrate that they have the capacity to pull other rabbits from the hat.
i bet to differ…. i have heard many say Mathare was this and that, was spot on and so on and so forth… Correction, they did not stop our wings, we still managed several crosses into the area, and where we didnt it was our own mistake and not Mathare’s doing (eg Olunga’s over-kicked cross)… We hit the cross-bar from a cross remember?
However i do agree we did not play too well especially after their goal… am not worried… no team plays well throughout the season.. you have to grind out results sometimes like we did… in fact that is the first evidence of a champion… so if i were Ingo i would not celebrate if a team that is having a bad day still gets a point
@Ingo how come you have conveniently chosen not to comment on our disallowed goal? How about the penalty we were denied when a Mathare defender openly handled the ball in the box from Shakava’s shot soon after our equalizer? Talk of selective amnesia.
Barefoot my broda, all I said was that Gor has already won the league and that they should just relax and enjoy the remaining games. I did not comment on todays game.
Asante
Ni mimi Wako,
Ingo Malesi
when the goal keeper for Mathare was knocked by players scrambling for Agwanda’s throws i was worried the ref would “carry us” as Mathare had locked the game.This was a true test for For and will Help in Cecafa tourney and of course Ramadhan will be over
Gor were relaxed on the first half. Gor should not allow opponents to score first coz what follows usually hyper defending. At least Gor is the only team I have seen that scores the first goal and continues to play n attack as if nothing happened. Mathari scored then locked everything. This is poor show by Gor opponents n Nutts has complained severally about this even though nothing much can be done about it. The problem is that Kenya coaches r turning players into cowards who only look for one goal. These local coaches r real turn off to football. Now they r even blaming ball boys. Gor was denied a penalty but Nuttal hardly commented about it, compare that to the ushuru coach. Even the This a coach is very impressive.
Otherwise gud game by Gor.
I meant ‘Even the Thika coach…’
We lost 2 points others lost 3 points. Net Gain 1 point.
The countdown, 5 more wins and we have unassailable lead.
Congratulations
Lucky escape as Mathare’s tactics were spot on ……rapidly close down the full backs and muzzle the midfiled supply resulting in harmless long balls from defence.
Unfortunatetly that is all Mathare will do. As far as the coach is concerned he has earned his salary for the next six months. Watch the next Mathare game and see how they will play. The boys will be without any ambtion to score coz all they know is to defend. The coach has no ambition to ‘look at the Africa scene’. Yet these teams contribute players to H.Stars. How is Harambee expected to succeed.
My hypothesis(not mentioned here) gives an example of the recent achievements of the Volley Ball team. A team that was being beaten in their grand prix matches until yesterday. It all has to do with the ambition of the coaches and the players. Harambee stars will quickly give excuses that they luck international matches, this is an excuse being peddled by the likes of Victor Wanyama and the rest of the team. So Mathare coach will be praised for drawing with Gor, that is all his players will register in their minds. Not how they scored 5 against Gor, but how well they defended.
@dinga…i agree with you.one reason we shall never advance as a football nation is because of the negative tactics from most of the teams in our premier league.
the mathare united and thika united and others are more adept at time wasting tactics and wholesale defending than playing attractive attacking soccer.
at one point they had a corner but about 7 of their players were sti?l at the back “defending”!
no wonder such teams get nowhere locally and internationally…they are just there to make the numbers and showcase their negative football tactics!!
@oswozo moziek and @Dinga, we are winning this KPL log again because of our aggressive attacking football we are currently playing. The team is physically feet by the fact that our players have remained strong in both halves in most of our games.
Our coach Nuttal is a great coach as he changed playing systems and patterns in the second half whilst Okumbi stuck to his old first half tactics of parking the bus and trucks in front of his goal.
I think Mathare were very lucky and they should thank the centre referee Ichingwa and his assistant referees that helped them. Time wasting and poor tactics by local coaches are not going to help our football nation go anywhere.
The team played well and they showed character of champion by coming back to draw levels at 1 all. This was a great comeback and in this regard I return all the glory and honour to the Almighty God in the mighty name of Jesus Christ for the single point we gained.
@Mwakio, Oswozo and Dinga I hope you took note that Mathare started applying time wasting tactics as early as the 57th minute.
@Dinga nothing wrong with defending, infact the basic principle in the game is defend and attack but it depends on how you employ the two. Gor defend by attacking unlike other teams which defends deeper and then counter attack when playing against strong opponent, it happens all over the world, therefore nothing wrong with MUTD tactics. The only thing that am in agreement with you is that Gor should be very careful not to concede first and start panicking. Stanley Okumbi says that he is disappointed with the draw and the goal that Gor scored was not creative, so u wonder what sorts of a coach is this, just shows how Gor have many enemies.
Mighty K’OGALO Forever
That was a great comeback from the boys. Getting Wafula to play right full back instead of Bernard Odhiambo was also very creative as well as bringing Agwanda instead of Wendo. When you are down you either go down further or attack and we did the later. To me I don’t understand how Okumbi is disappointed that he drew yet we made all the attacks including hitting the post. Actually it’s us gor who should be disappointed though we are OK with the draw as it retains our position
@Dan original you are spot ON, I think this guy OKUMBI is just unwillingly admitting that his team was very lucky to be able to get a point in this encounter. The fact that GOR dominated and tore apart their defensive play while piling pressure till the last whistle confirms that KPL is always 15 teams against 1.
Now GOR will have some break from KPL related issue’s during the CECAFA tournament, and i only pray that GOR performs so well that they stay in Dar for three weeks and play six games till the final. That means KPL league will have registered 4 more matches for the title “Contenders” and “Pretenders” and let us see if they will catch up with the 12 points gap
Even when teams playing their own fixture and despite the kind of result they pose you will always hear them lamenting something about GOR and it makes me wonder if that is not what has pushed GOR to be ruthless this season.
1. Ken Kenyatta beaten by AFC and blames biased officiating that favors TWO big teams. Why did he not say that when he failed to beat Bandari. Remember this guy was quoted as saying that he will finish second round unbeaten and go for the trophy while wishing GOR to flatter.
2. Matano after registering two successive wins with ULINZI is now also busy lamenting how league is a marathon and wishing the worst to happen to GOR.
This list is endless if i can recall, Timbe’s ,The Baraza’s , Muiruri’s , Tim Bryett and so on. Bur what astonishes most is the fact after all this innuendos and hullabaloo the same teams later on succumb to a winless streak and you find them disappearing from mid-table to the bottom. Now Baraza and Muiruri are fired cause of spennding too much of their effort and sulking about GOR . Look at THIKA after sweating blood to play and now where are they after being smacked twice.
To me the Mathare was a good wake-up call that for us defend this title then we need to know that referee’s and match official have very clear instructions to derail our title march at all cost. No wonder the funny whistle even when we were at advantage position to attack and denial of a genuine penalty appeal.
Matano did buy GM,Championship with money in 2012, Uless he confesses, he will neverever lead any Team to be Champion
Congrats boys for fighting gallantly. I wish you all the best in cecafa but am abit apprehensive considering the team’s latest display, we’ve struggled alot.
I would’nt want to speculate but i think the office need to ensure that players dues are paid.
The game was a cracker. We sat at the edge of our seats and that is football. I must comment the K’Ogalo family. Even when the slum boys scored, we responded very positively by acknowledging it and the same time encouraging our Team.We showed the True spirit of sportsmanship. We are not living under any illusion. It is an open secret that all the teams that take to the pitch have one goal, to win. So for Mathare to score it was normal and so did Gor.My view is that we do not usually concentrate on referees but this time round I think it was wanting. It is also my hope that those players who limped off did not suffer major injuries.Otherwise K’Ogallo family let us continue to show the way in matters football so that others may follow.
Something which more amazing is that Teams like Mathare United whenever they are playing GM, you are made to think that’s how they play against every Team in KPL like that, less you hear that they loose to AFC, Thika United, Ulinzi Stars and so on!!!
The best thing we did yesterday was to applaud the team when they conceded. Meaning that we didn’t give up but encouraged them. We did the same when the half tme whistle was blown. and when Agwanda went for this trademark throw -ns the noise was unbearable for the opponents. That is what fans should do.
The fact that we don’t dispute the refs decisions ‘violently’ by hurling missiles to the pitch was also a good move. Every Gor fan now believes that it’s always only a matter of time before we score which is good for the game
Gudwork men. love the fighting spirit.