Gor Mahia head coach Portuguese Vaz Pinto has implored his charges to capitalise on all the goal scoring opportunities that come their way to be able to charge effectively for a title defence.
Pinto made the remarks after the 19-time champions overcame an abrassive challenge to squeeze out a hard-fought 1-0 win from a resilient Wazito side.
“When you get an opportunity in this kind of game you need to score. It's not easy because we also had a match last week.Our focus is our style of play. We should keep the spirit,” said Pinto.
Wazito tactician Francis Kimanzi fell short of attributing the dwindling fortunes of his charges to Covid-19 implications.
“It's part of the competition and we tried our best. My players were very aggressive in the initial minutes but lost steam along the way.
“The stoppages occasioned by Covid-19 compromised the quality of my team and slowed down the momentum we had gained earlier on,” said Kimanzi.
Determined to draw the first blood, Wazito strikers launched endless inroads into K’Ogalo territory, firing on all cylinders with Gad Mathews being the busiest of the two custodians.
Gor thought they had won a penalty in the 19th minute when Rooney Onyango appeared to have tripped Clifton Miheso in the box, but referee Brooke Philips blew the whistle for a goal kick instead, much to the chagrin of the K'Ogalo fold.
Gor survived two back-to-back scares in the 29th minute when Gad Mathews was called to action, first blocking Musa Masika's close range attempt before he threw himself again on the path of the ball to thwart Wyvonne Isuza's attempt on the rebound.
Geoffrey Ochieng almost broke the deadlock with a thunderous low drive a couple of minutes later but Wazito custodian Opiyo positioned himself well to palm the effort away from danger.
In a bid to change the tide of the match, coach Kimanzi effected a tactical change, bringing on Kevin Kimani for Boniface Omondi. Pinto on his part sought to stabilise his defence
In the 51st minute, Opiyo stretched full length to parry away a goal-bound header after Tito Okello rose unmarked to connect Karim Abdul's cross.
Minutes later, Okello attracted the wrath of the few K'Ogalo faithful at the stands when he scooped the ball after dispossessing Maurice Ojwang about 20 yards out.
Tito Okello will rue missing the best opportunity of the game in the 55th when he found himself in a one-on-one situation with Opiyo but ended up firing the ball off the target.
In the 79th minute, Pinto made a triple substitution, introducing Jules Ulimwengu, John Macharia and Sidney Ochieng for come in for Miheso, Alpha Onyango and Abdoul Karim.
The decision paid off handsomely, when Sammy Onyango danced his way past the Wazito midfield and picked out Jules Ulimwengu who unleashed a rasping shot that swished past a startled Opiyo to put Gor in the lead.
But Onyango would later turn from hero to villain when he was slapped with a red card after accumulating two yellow cards. Following the result, Gor have ascended to fourth on the log with 31 points.
