Guikan fires Gor Mahia past Sony

Champions Gor Mahia moved six points clear at the top of the SportPesa Premier League after a slim 1-0 win over bottom-placed Sony Sugar in a mid-week match at the Moi Stadium in Kisumu on Wednesday.

Ivorian striker Ephrem Guikan's 38th minute strike was enough to hand K'Ogalo the three points against their Awendo-based opponents.

Gor are now on 34 points from 14 matches, with Ulinzi in second on 28 points from 16 matches. Sony remain bottom of the pile with 14 points from 17 matches.

Gor Mahia head coach Dylan Kerr said while his side missed several chances, they played a good game as they kept possession in the entire match.

"We always want to press and score goals and the players did exactly that today. Yes we would have scored more goals but this is football anything can happen, it is a victory and I'm happy about it," said Kerr.

His Sony Sugar counterpart Patrick Odhiambo defend his side's decision to play behind the ball most of the time saying it was a tactical approach.

"In the first half we did not go in front most of the time and this was to avoid opening the game to give our opponents a chance to score more goals. We tried in the second half and created few chances but we were not lucky," said Odhiambo.

As expected Gor began the duel impressively, making their first attempt at goal through a corner-kick, but Samuel Olare cleared the ball to safety, before Rwandese Meddie Kagere came close to netting his side's first goal a few minutes later but his header went over the crossbar by a few inches.

Humphrey Mieno was not lucky as two successive chances that came his way were well dealt with by Kevin Omondi in the Sony goal.

After a beautiful run on the right wing, Ugandan Geofrey Walusimbi managed to find Guikan with a delicious cross in the danger area, however the latter was not lucky too as his header went wide.

Kagere thought he had beaten Omondi with his header inside the box minutes later, but the custodian managed find his footing to claim the ball before it sailed in.

Ernest Wendo managed to cut through the Sony's defence minutes later and set Kagere with a through pass from the edge of the box, but the striker's shot was weak and did not perturb Omondi in goal.

Guikan finally broke the deadlock in the 38th minute with an easy finish after connecting well with Innocent Wafula's dangerous cross inside the box.

Bonface Oluoch had a field day in the first half as host Sony Sugar made no attempts at goal.

Upon resumption, Clinton Omondi made Sony's first attempt at Gor Mahia's goal with a long strike from the left wing, but the safe hands of Oluoch comfortably gathered the ball.

Sony were awarded a free-kick in the 52nd minute after Gor captain Harun Shakava fouled Tobias Otieno outside the box, but Omondi failed to hit the target.

The hosts seemed to have gained some momentum in the second half as they were again on the offensive minutes later, but Shakava blocked Derrick Otanga's shot outside the danger area.

Through Francis Kahata, Gor made a counter attack on the right flank, but Olare cleared the ball for a corner kick which resulted to nothing.

Guikan came close to doubling Gor's advantage in the 65th minute with a rebound from Kahata's free-kick, but he was denied by Omondi.

The first substitution of the match came two minutes later with Sony bringing on Stephen Ouma for Clinton Omondi.

Omondi was forced to come out of his line in the 72nd minute to deny Guikan who was rushing to finish off a rebound from Kagere's parried shot.

Center referee Bard Yassin ruled out Guikan's second goal in the 87th minute as the striker had handed the ball before sending it into the back of the net.

Kagere wasted a glorious opportunity to net Gor's second goal in the 90th minute after a one-one situation with goalkeeper Omondi.

The Rwandan import was not lucky again as his clever shot with the back of his leg inside the box failed to hit the target with Kevin Oluoch rushing to clear it for safety.