Record Kenyan champions Gor Mahia managed to snap their four game winless run as they condemned early season strugglers Mathare United to a narrow 1-0 defeat in a league match played at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on Sunday afternoon.Frank Odhiambo gives Gor Mahia the lead after a goal mouth scramble that followed a free awarded to K’OgaloGor 1-0 Mathare (58′)#Sirkal pic.twitter.com/boX40qsaUY— Ochi (@soo_ochieng) January 9, 2022 In a game that was certainly a tale of two halves, the 19 time Kenyan champions managed to overcome their first half frustrations as fast rising defender Frank Odhiambo scored the all important goal that settled the tie and got the team their first win since 9 December 2021 thus ending a four game losing streak.Before the goal, though, Gor Mahia had endured agony in the final third as the wasteful Sando Sando Yangayay caused pain to the onlooking fans as he missed every opportunity created his way in the first half, forcing assistant head coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo to take him off upon resumption of the second half.The deadlock should have been broken on a couple of occassions but time and again the Congolese striker was largely to blame for his erratic finishing in the final third as the two teams went for the half time breather with Mathare the happier of the two.Early in the encounter, it is the slum boys who had found the earliest sighter on goal nine minutes in but the free kick attempt from Kennedy Ochieng’ proved to too innocuous to threaten Adama Keita in the Gor goal. Gor Mahia’s defender move to Europe imminent From that moment, Gor had all the dominance in the game but they could not convert it into anything.Alpha Onyango thought he had managed to find the opener for Gor with his low snap drive but his attempt veered to the left after looking like it had the goalkeeper’s beating.Backed by a small number of their fans in the grounds, the green army had a period of sustained pressure in the next fifteen minutes but Sando Yangayay could not provide the finishing touch on more than three clear cut occassions when Gor managed to prise open the Mathare defense.George ‘Blackberry’ Odhiambo then weaved his magic inside the box as he left two defenders for dead but with only the goalkeeper between him and the target, the former 2010 league’s Most Valuable Player could not even cause any trouble as he fluffed his lines with a wayward shot, Mathare smiling as the referee blew for the breather.Second halfIn the second half, Gor successfully managed to calm any growing nerves as Frank found himself in the right place to bundle in the opening goal in the 58th minute after a goalmouth scramble.The opportunity had came about after Austin Odhiambo floated in a deep free kick into the area that the slum boys’ defense failed to clear properly following Boniface’s cutback into the area, Frank instinctively forcing the ball over the line after relentless attempts.Sammy Onyango then thought he had double Gor’s lead with his first touch of the game just minutes after replacing Blackberry but the linesman ruled out his rebound attempt for offside after Dennis Ng’ang’a’s freekick was palmed into his path by Bryne Omondi.Gor Mahia duo heading to Police?Moments of concentration lapse and failure to kill off the game by Gor almost allowed the slum boys to snatch a point late on but it was not to be as Gor sealed all three points.Gor Mahia Starting XI: Adama Keita, Philemon Otieno, Frank Odhiambo, Dennis Ng’ang’a, Yusuf Mainge, Alpha Onyango, Peter Oudu, Austin Odhiambo, George Odhiambo, Sando Sando, Boniface OmondiMathare Starting XI: Bryne Omondi, Kennedy Ochieng’, Martin Ongori, Victor Odhiambo, Tony Odhiambo, Meshack Muyobga, Alphonce Ndonye, Martin Mbugua, Danson Kago, Daniel Otieno, Clifford Alwanga
