Kenyan top flight champions Gor Mahia’s poor form continued over the weekend after they were dumped out of the GOtv Shield round of 16 by Nzoia Sugar.
Edgar Nzano condemned Gor to an early exit, heaping more misery on the faltering champions with a well taken penalty in the 30th minute.
The shock loss to the National Super League high-flyers and promotion candidates has extended Gor’s recent slide of form, drawing their last three Premier league matches to Posta Rangers, Bandari and Sony Sugar without the them finding the back of the net.
To add more insult to injury, all seems not be well in K’Ogalo with beleaguered coach Jose Ze Maria sacking goal-keepers coach Matthew Ottamax. Gor are currently seven points behind Tusker in second place and will be looking to return to winning ways if they harbour any ambitions of winning an unprecedented fourth successive league crown with eight games remaining. Assistant coach Tom Ogweno pointed an accusing finger at the match officials for the defeat to Nzoia.
“The referee was inconsistent with his decisions and this affected us big time and contributed to our exit. Their penalty, to me was an undeserved one because that was a ball to hand, there was no intention to handle it and the official could have ignored it.
“There was a time Francis Kahata was fouled in the danger zone; it was a clean penalty, why did he ignore? It beats logic, however, it is football and we accept the result hoping for a good run in the league,” added Ogweno.
Ze Maria is, however, confident the slump will end soon and they will win the title. “We have eight games remaining and anything is possible. We will fight till the last game of the season,” added Ze Maria
AFC Leopards last hopes of winning silverware were also dashed as they suffered an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Western Stima. Wesley Kemboi, Kennedy Otieno and Fredrick Shimonyo netted the goals for the hosts, who outplayed Leopards for long spells in the match, leaving coach Ivan Minnaert future, like that of his colleague at arch rivals Gor, hanging up in the air .
New champions in waiting Tusker stayed on course for a league and cup double by thrashing Zetech 3-0. Goals by Ekalian Ndolo, Danson Kago and Allan Wanga ensured safe progress for the brewers. Holders Bandari kept their dream of retaining the Shield alive with a narrow 1-0 win over a stubborn Bidco United. Musa Mudde long range strike in the 25th minute was the difference between the two sides in a competitive match. The dockers hopes of retaining the trophy will have been boosted especially with the exit of Gor and AFC from the competition.
Second tier out-ftit KCB showed they still know a thing or two about handling the elite teams as they stunned Thika United 1-0 to progress to the quarter-finals with Kennedy Owino scoring in the fifth minute to send the bankers to the final eight. Enos Ochieng scored a double as Ulinzi Stars edged Chemelil Sugar 3-1. Ibrahim Kitawi scored the lone goal as Kariobangi Sharks defeated Modern Coast Rangers 1-0.