'Today was a bad day': Gor coach Akonnor takes responsibility for loss to lowly Bomet

Hansel Ochieng' scored two goals and provided two assists as basement club APS Bomet came from behind to defeat record champions Gor Mahia 4-1 in an FKF Premier League match at Nyayo National Stadium on Tuesday.

Gor Mahia seemed set to sail to a comfortable win after their new Ghanaian striker George Amonoo gave them the lead in the fifth minute. However, Bomet fought back to lead 2-1 at halftime after Ochieng converted a penalty in the 40th minute before giving the policemen the lead in the 43rd minute.

With Saturday's Mashemeji derby in mind, Gor Mahia's Ghanaian coach Charles Akonnor made nine changes to the team that defeated Tusker 1-0 on Saturday. He brought on his top guns in the second half, but the changes did not inspire a comeback.

Denied a hat-trick

Instead, the day belonged to Ochieng', who was denied a hat-trick after his teammate Philip Wasai deflected his shot into the net in the 76th minute. In the 87th minute, he set up Rodgers Kipkemoi to score Bomet's fourth, sealing their second win of the season.

The loss is the worst suffered by Gor Mahia in the league since losing 3-0 to Posta Rangers in January 2022.

Gor Mahia maintained their lead atop the league with 19 points.

The win pulled Bomet off the bottom of the table to 17th with eight points.

Speaking after the match, Akonnor took responsibility for the loss.

"Today was a bad day. We did not do well in a lot of areas. It was surprising because we dropped in every area of the game after we scored. We were not aggressive enough. I am responsible for that, and we look to make amends in our next match," he said.

"I saw a lot of fatigue in some of our players in our last match. We are playing on Saturday, Tuesday, and then Saturday again. Not that I disrespected today's opponents, but I thought it was the right time to give other players a chance to play today and keep others fresh for the derby on Saturday, but it did not go well," Akonnor said on making nine changes to his starting line-up.

"We will have to do well in our next match and get a nice result," Akonnor added.

"We have been playing well, but results have not been coming our way. We have been creating many chances and not converting them. We have been working a lot on our finishing, and today I am happy the boys have implemented what we worked on in training," said his APS Bomet counterpart Benedict Wanjala.

Yet, Wanjala spoke of a need to move on from the result quickly.

"We cannot celebrate. This match is over, and we still have tough matches coming up. We are still working on building our confidence because most of our players are new to this level."

Bomet's hero Ochieng' described playing Gor Mahia as "a good fixture for me".

"Nothing new scoring against Gor Mahia for me. It is a good feeling. A good win for us and a good game for us to put a statement out there," Ochieng' said.

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