Gor Mahia complete double over AFC Leopards
Gor Mahia players celebrate Austin Odhiambo's goal during the 'Mashemeji' derby against AFC Leopards at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on April 21, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Midfielder Austin Odhiambo’s goal at the half-hour mark following a howler by Leopards’ goalkeeper Levis Opiyo is all defending champions Gor needed to extend their dominance in the derby
- In 98 meetings, K’Ogalo have now won 36 times, Leopards 29 while 33 ties have ended in a draw
- Gor’s goalkeeper Kevin Omondi was sent off in the 35th minute following a foul on AFC Leopards striker Victor Omune
Ten-man Gor Mahia on Sunday completed a double over their arch-rivals AFC Leopards with a 1-0 win in the ‘Mashemeji’ derby at Nyayo National Stadium.
The 30,000-seater capacity stadium was almost full to the brim by supporters of the two biggest football clubs in the country.
Donning the colours of their respective teams, the fans set an electric mood at the stadium from the first to the last whistle in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKF-PL) match.
The match was attended by several dignitaries including Gor’s patron Raila Odinga.
Midfielder Austin Odhiambo’s goal at the half-hour mark following a howler by Leopards’ goalkeeper Levis Opiyo is all defending champions Gor needed to extend their dominance in the derby.
In 98 meetings, K’Ogalo have now won 36 times, Leopards 29 while 33 ties have ended in a draw.
Gor’s goalkeeper Kevin Omondi was sent off in the 35th minute following a foul on AFC Leopards striker Victor Omune.
Omondi was replaced by Caleb Otieno with Musa Masika being the player who was withdrawn.
K’Ogalo won the first-leg encounter 2-0 at Moi International Sports Centre (MISC) Kasarani on October 14 last year, with Benson Omala scoring a brace.
With the victory, Gor now tops the FKF-PL standing with 57 points.
Speaking after the match, Leopards coach Thomas Trucha absolved his goalkeeper Opiyo of blame in the loss.
With both strikers Benson Omala and Odhiambo closing on him inside the box, Opiyo delayed to clear the ball and the latter punished him for that.
Trucha said despite the mistake by the custodian, Ingwe should have capitalised on their numerical advantage in the thrilling match to bag maximum points.
“He (Opiyo) knows that it was not a good decision but at the same time it is not the reason why we lost the game. The reason is that against 10 players, we should score more goals, not zero,” said Trucha, who was experiencing the ‘Mashemeji’ derby for the first time.
The Czech apologised to Ingwe supporters for the loss, saying the team should have gifted their fans with a win for turning out in large numbers for the match.
“We played for like 55 minutes against 10 players. In our quality we should score the goals, so I would like to apologise to our fans, who came in their numbers and created a good atmosphere for the derby,” said Trucha.
On the other hand, Gor Mahia coach Johnathan McKinstry said: “We had to be brave, not to take it long and when we broke at half-time, we said what was true at the start of the game in terms of being brave was the key to us winning this game.”
Police were forced to lob tear gas to disperse supporters of the two teams who were throwing projectiles at each other after the final whistle.
The scoreline would have been different had the two teams capitalised on their chances in the thrilling encounters.
In other matches played on Sunday, Tusker bounced back to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Ulinzi Stars at Ulinzi Sports Complex while Murang’a Seal battled to a barren draw with relegation candidates Muhoroni Youth at SportPesa Arena. T
Tusker are third with 46 points while Ulinzi are 13th with 30 points.
Seal are 11th with 35 points while Muhoroni are 16th with 26 points.
Sunday results
Gor Mahia 1 AFC Leopards 0
Murang’a Seal 0 Muhoroni Youth 0
Ulinzi Stars 0 Tusker 1
