A turbulent week for Gor Mahia on and off the field fell to a new low as the record Cup winners were ousted from the GOtv Shield tournament away at Bandari in a shoot out where they vastly improved Bernard Mwalala’s side prevailed 5-4. The tie had ended 1-1 in regulation time.
William Wadri, the lethal dread-locked forward, headed in the opening goal for the hosts ten minutes into the second half— threatening to continue the dockers' recent dominance over Gor.
Substitute Dennis Oliech, vilified for his performance in the club’s Caf Confederation Cup defeat over the weekend, brought them level 15 minutes to the end of regulation time.
Bandari had to contend with the loss for the final half an hour after he limped off injured to be replaced by Benjamin Mosha.
In his absence, Gor got the equaliser that took the duel to post-match penalties in the top of bill knockout encounter. Both sides named strong squads with Haron Shakava and Shafique Batambuze back in the K’Ogalo’s defence and they held firm against Bandari’s deadly quartet of Wadri Abdalla Hassan, Yemi Mwana and Shaban Kenga until Wadri’s interventionist header that means their wait for a record-extending cup win goes on next year.
Bandari meanwhile will now hope that this triumph, albeit on the lottery of penalties, will help them regroup and try and dislodge Gor from the top of the league.
Also yesterday, the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Nairobi West Branch has activated a five-day referees training which targets club officials and upcoming referees from the branch’s leagues. The course, which kicked off on Tuesday will see upcoming referees and club officials educated on the laws of the game and fair play.
Day One had the participants taken through the new laws of the game by referees’ instructor Calin Alusa. “We have put together this workshop to train our upcoming referees on the ever-changing laws of the game. Officiating has been a challenge in these lower leagues and this course will come in handy to bridge this gap,” said FKF Nairobi West branch chairman Bashir Hussein.
The referees will be duly certified after the training programme with at least 60 new referees set to be given a chance to officiate at the grass root level.
