Gor Mahia’s roaring start to the season continued yesterday as they saw off Chemelil Sugar 3-1 in a Kenyan Premier League match at the City Stadium. Khalid Aucho opened the scoring for the champions just before half-time before Ali Abondo doubled the lead. Meshack Karani pulled one back for Chemelil but Meddie Kagere added the third for Gor.
Recently, Chemelil have proved to be a thorn in the flesh of big teams from the Kenyan capital and going by the cautious manner with which they started the match, Mike Mururi’s charges look like they were keen on stopping the aspirations of the league champions.
K’Ogallo stuck with most of the players, who had done duty in their midweek victory that propelled them to the top of the standings. With a third victory in as many matches likely, Kagere led a three-prong attack alongside his side-kicks Abondo and Michael Olunga. The trio had accounted for all of K’Ogallo’s six goals in their previous two matches. The three were up against a formidable Chemelil backline marshalled by Charles Odero and James Omino.
Upfront, the sugar millers looked upon youngsters Stephen Wakhanya and Meshack Karani to test K’Ogallo’s resolve.
Abondo had the first sight of goal after combining well with Geofrey Walusimbi but he shot waywardly. Gor were on the front-foot throughout the opening exchanges with Chemelil struggling to get out of their own half.
Aucho and Collins Okoth completely dominated Dan Murage and Jonathan Mwaniki, creating a platform for the hosts to attack at will. From one situation, Okoth released Haron Shakava, forcing the Chemelil keeper to come off his line to salvage the situation. It came at a cost though as Fredrick Onyango escaped with only a yellow after fouling Shakava just outside the box.
From the ensuing free-kick, Kagere forced Onyango into a sprawling save. Gor were in complete control of the match and in the 39th minute as Chemelil retreated, Aucho fired a swerving shot from the area to give Gor a deserved 39th minute lead.
