Kenyan champions Gor Mahia advanced to the quarter-finals of the ongoing Cecafa Kagame Cup after beating AS Ports from Djibouti 2-0 yesterday at the Umuganda Stadium, Rwanda.
Gor launched their bid to claim their fourth regional inter-club tournament with a 2-1 win over DR Congo’s Maniema on Monday and following their yesterday’s win, Hassan Oktay’s charges booked a place in the last eight with a match to spare.
Prior to kickoff, Oktay handed the trio of David Mapigano, Elvis Ronack and Dickson Ambundo their maiden starts since signing for the club last week. Mapigano, a Tanzanian goalkeeper who was snapped from Singida United replaced first-choice goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch while Ronack was preferred to partner with the skipper of the day Joachim Oluoch at the heart of the defence. Ambundo filled in Kenneth Muguna’s shoes.
K’Ogalo struggled to break the duck as they settled for a barren draw in the first half. However, second-half substitute Boniface Omondi gave them the lead in the 70th minute before new signing Dennis Oalo scored the second in the dying minutes of the game to open his goal account with the club since joining from National Super League side Nairobi Stima.
Omondi’s goal saw him stretch his tally in the tournament to two as he had earlier found the back of the net in the first match against Maniema.
With the victory, Gor will take on Zanzibar’s KMKM in the final Group ‘D’ match on Sunday, seeking to finish at the top and evade a tough opponent in the knockout stages.
Their counterparts Bandari will meanwhile be looking to join them in the final eight when they play their final Group ‘B’ match against defending champions Azam tomorrow at the Huye Stadium.
Bandari played to KCCA and Mukura Victory to 1-1 and 2-2 draws in their last two matches and will be forced to edge out the two-time champions to keep their dreams of reaching to the knockout stage alive.
