A wounded Gor Mahia will start to whittle their three SportPesa Premier League matches in hand today when they play Kakamega Homeboyz at the Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos.
Gor have had two of their league matches rescheduled to honour their continental assignments and the club will shift their attention to defending the league against Homeboyz today before embarking on securing a place in the quarterfinals of the CAF Confederations Cup against Petro Atletico of Angola.
The Kenyan champions are bound to host Atletico on Sunday in the final Group D match at the Moi Stadium, Kasarani where a win will see them progress to the final eight of the tournament.
Prior to the must-win continental match, Hasan Oktay charges who are fourth on the log with 29 points will have to narrow the gap between them and the other league chasing opponents against the high-flying Homeboyz, who humiliated Mt. Kenya United 6-1 in their previous league match. Gor jetted back to the country from Egypt on Tuesday and had a light training session yesterday in readiness for today’s match, where a number of players who were unused in the Zamalek match are expected to be handed the starting roles.
Despite the fixture congestion which is set to escalate once again as the club is set to push forward their SportPesa Shield Cup round of 32 matches set for this weekend against Kenoly to pave way for the Atletico match, Gor have downplayed shipping in new players to curb fatigue in their squad. According to the deputy secretary general Ronald Ngala, the club will only deep in the transfer market on the recommendation from the head coach who had since expressed satisfaction with the depth in his side.
“The team jetted back on Tuesday evening and trained yesterday ahead of the Homeboyz game. It’s a crucial match even though we would have wanted it rescheduled to give us time to prepare for the Sunday match but we are aware that time is limited this season. We have no plans to sign new players as the coach says he is satisfied with the available players and we will only sign players if he requests us to do so.”
Ahead of the match, Gor will have to worry of Allan Wanga’s free-scoring form as the former AFC Leopards man leads the league scorers chart courtesy of his eight goals and will be looked up to guide his side in halting their eight matches win-less run against the champions. Gor have won six of the last eight meetings with two duels ending evenly and coach Nicholas Muyoti will rely on Wanga and his striking twin Max Ravel to squeeze a win which will see them take their tally to 24 points.
