Leopards take unbeaten run to 22 as Gor stare at the axe

Last week was an interesting one in the Kenyan Premier League as top teams continued to impress: the big news came out of Mumias Complex, but there was a lot of action in Afraha Stadium as well.

The stars of the league continued to shine for the big clubs while others were left hanging in the middle of the pack.

Leaders AFC Leopards, Tusker FC, Sofapaka and Ulinzi were all winners, while Sony Sugar, Muhoroni Youth and Gor Mahia continued to falter. We are now a quarter of the way through the season and it has been an exciting ride thus far.

One thing Leopards head coach Jan Koops took out of the 3-1 defeat by Gor Mahia – their last league loss, last July – was the need to develop a rapid passing game.

Unbeaten run extends to 22

Their unbeaten run was extended to 22 matches after Sunday’s 6-2 destruction of a Rangers team which seemingly refuses to learn anything from the defensive idleness and blunders that has befallen them since the season kicked off in February.

It is just nine games into the season and Ingwe are showing whoever cares to look how determined they are to lift the title for the first time since 1998. Already, they have scored 18 goals, the bulk of it coming from the Rangers thrashing.

“Every coach has his style and respect for the players,” Koops said on Monday on telephone from Mumias.

“We are doing it our way and enjoying every moment of it. When you have technical players on your side, then results can’t be hard to get. Oscar Kadenge and Charles Okwemba, among many others, have been phenomenal in our quest.”

But while Leopards continue to devour their prey at every opportunity, it was yet another horrid result for the ‘Green Army’, Gor Mahia, against a not-so-convincing Oserian. K’Ogalo suffered 1-0, their fourth league loss, and dropped to 14th position with a point better than City Stars at the bottom of the 16-team log.

Their form has surely gone from a fortress to an amusement park for opposing teams.

Weekend results

AFC Leopards 6  Rangers 2, Oserian 1  Gor Mahia 0, Sony Sugar 0 Tusker 1, Thika United 1 KCB 1, Sofapaka 2 City Stars 0, Karuturi Sports 1 Western Stima 0, Mathare United 2 Muhoroni Youth 1, Ulinzi Stars 2 Chemelil Sugar 1

It is situation dire for them, with supporters suffering gut-turning worry and finding it hard to see light in a very dark tunnel. Oserian rode their luck and got the three points after 90 minutes. For crying out loud, K’Ogalo isn’t your usual team.

In 48 years of existence of the Kenyan Football League, with an exception of 1971, only 12 clubs have shared the titles, with Gor leading the pack with 13 trophies.

Again, Gor and Ulinzi Stars are the only clubs who have lifted the league title three times in a row. Gor won it in 1983 to 1985, while Ulinzi replicated the same in 2003 to 2005.

That was then and this is now, where the worrying results have seen the team’s head coach Zdrauku Lugarusic say that: “My task now is to make sure Gor escapes relegation because my players are not playing according to my expectations,” Gor Coach Zdrauku Lugarusic.

The way things are progressing at the club, it is not looking good at the moment. They have known only one win in their last nine outings. Still, their fans are hopeful that in time, the club will move forward and start to challenge for trophies.

And why not? There are young talented players coming through the ranks at the club like Ibrahim Kitawi, Musa Mohammed, Kevin Omondi and Rama Mbugua etcetera.
The future looks bright, but will these players progress onto becoming world class? Let’s hope so!