Gor slowly shifting title defense gears to full throttle

After round four of this season’s  SportPesa Premier League (SPL), champions Gor Mahia looked dead and buried but they are now just five points off the top after a storming run only peppered by the controversial 1-0 to challengers Tusker FC.

On March 9, Frank Nutall threw in the towel as head coach for greener pastures at Cairo giants, Zamalek and days later, his assistant David Ouna followed suit to plunge the team into crisis after opening their defence with three draws and that bitter 1-0 loss to arch rivals AFC Leopards in the first Mashemeji Derby of the season.

Nuttall who led K’Ogalo to the 2014 and the unbeaten 2015 titles left in a huff three days after the Ingwe loss to join compatriot Alex McLeish in Egypt as an assistant with the pair having worked together at Glasgow titans; Rangers FC who recently earned promotion back to the Scottish Premier League.

In a dramatic twist of fortunes, Nutall has reportedly been axed by Zamalek just when Gor are warming up to gun for history by winning an unprecedented fourth successive SPL crown- barely a month after the champions mirrored their English Premier League counterparts, Chelsea FC, in putting together a nightmare title-defense.

Gor’s rise has coincided by stalling form from leaders Mathare United and second placed Tusker FC while the wheels have totally come off Ingwe under their charismatic Belgian boss, Ivan Minnaert after two straight defeats knocked them out of the top three into fifth, just a point above the titleholders.

After being held by Muhoroni Youth 1-1, Mathare were forced to share the spoils in a pulsating 2-2 draw with Tusker to miss the chance to move clear at the top. The Brewers had come off a shocking 1-0 defeat to season’s surprise package -promoted side, Posta Rangers- ahead of Thursday’s top-of-the-table clash in Machakos.

For Ingwe, early season talk of finishing the campaign unbeaten under Minnaert has dissipated into a rallying call to recharge the troops after the Kenyan Premier League awarded fourth-placed Ulinzi Stars maximum points and a 2-0 score following their aborted game in Mumias the previous weekend before Western Stima added insult to injury by shaving them 2-1 in Kisumu on Wednesday.

K’Ogalo under Brazilian tactician and former Inter Milan defender Jose Ferreira Marcelo commonly known as Ze Maria, who answered the call to pick the debris from Nutall’s exit; have the wind in their sails to charge for the title after beating joint early season favourites, Bandari FC at their Mbaraki Stadium fortress in Mombasa on Thursday.

George ‘Blackberry’ Odhiambo and a late own goal from the hapless Felly Mulumba saw Gor notch their second victory on the bounce after stopping fierce South Nyanza adversaries, Sony Sugar 1-0, in the game prior their trip down to the Kenyan coast.

The champions are now sixth (17) having risen from 12th when Nutall left behind Mathare (22), Tusker (21), Posta (20), Ulinzi (19) and Leopards and smelling blood.

“We are regaining the seemingly lost glory, and this is crucial for us since we have a regional tournament ahead of us,” Ze Maria declared after the Mbaraki game that revenged their season-opening DStv Super Cup loss at the same stadium to GOtv Shield winners, Bandari who lost for the first time at home.

“The players are quickly adopting to my style of play and I’m optimistic we are capable of winning the title at the end of the season. I’m not ready to discuss some of the future plans for the club,” the ex-Selecao full back added.

K’Ogalo’s increasing dependence on record signing and Rwandese international, Jacques Tuyisenge, who has spent a fair chunk of his debut SPL season out injured to fashion or fire in the goals has been pointed out as the chink in the champion’s armour who had the free-scoring trio of departed Michael Olunga, Meddi Kagere and Ali Abondo last year.

“We are just into the season  and it is too early to talk about recruitment of new strikers, since I still need to study my strikers before making up my mind,” the head coach quipped with deputy forwards, Enoch Agwanda and Jacob Keli struggling to find the net thus far.

“So far, I’m impressed by most of my players and I can see a great team in Gor Mahia,” Ze Maria stressed.

In hinting the club had not received official communication from title-sponsors, betting firm SportPesa in the wake of the hooliganism acts that held up their game against Tusker a fortnight ago, K’Ogalo captain, Jerim Onyango, added the development had done little to knock them off their stride.

“The players are not demoralized by the news. Even last year we went all the way to win the league without a sponsor. We are targeting to be on top of the league by mid season,” the keeper who has since dropped to the bench after starting the season as the number one custodian added.

Gor host the unpredictable eighth-placed Muhoroni  when the SPL resumes next Saturday with Ze Maria’s defenders out to fashion a way to thwart Golden Boot chase leader and former employee, Wycliffe Ochomo; who has plundered nine in 11 games.

They then travel to Stima (seventh) and leaders Mathare before their home tie against bottom side 2009 champions, Sofapaka and a trip to Thika United just above them on the log complete their first-leg.

Positive results in the first three fixtures will be the statement K’Ogalo needs to convince their critics they mean business and their resurgence is not a mere flash in the pan,

Report by Milton Ochieng