Nine-man Gor Mahia seal Caf Confed quarterfinal slot

Two red cards, a sending off for both coaches and two ferocious shots crashing against the post was the story of the evening as Gor Mahia sealed their spot in the quarterfinals of the Caf Confederation Cup after a 1-0 win over Petro Atletico in a dramatic match staged at the Moi International Sports Center in Kasarani on Sunday.

The final whistle saw Gor fans storm the pitch to savour the historic events of the night.

A penalty was all that the hosts needed to fend off Petro, who had come out guns blazing and, who had numerical advantage in the match.

"We have to congratulate the players for playing well despite being disadvantaged for a long spell," said Oktay.

"What we have achieved today as a team without football technology is fantastic and I'm proud if each and everyone of my players."

In that highly combative clash, Gor’s moment of grace came in the 56th minute when Boniface Omondi was felled inside the box, promoting the referee to call for a penalty.

Jacques Tuyisenge took the spot kick and sent the ball directly inside much to the jubilation of the sizeable crowd that had turned out to watch the match.

The game itself was highly dramatic from the get go, and Gor seemed to have everything under control both on the pitch and in the stands until that moment of madness in the 36th minute.

Hassan Oktay, Ernest Wendo and Shafiq Batambuze never saw the end of the match. The first two never even saw the end of the first half as they were sent off in the 36th and 44th minutes of the game for infringements of different kinds.

Wendo was sent off for an unnecessary high boot into the waist of Petro's Vladamir Eston, who had to be pulled off shortly afterwards.

Oktay was given the boot 10 minutes later for dissent.

He seemed irked with his boys’ output and demanded more in the early stages of the match where he kept making highly animated gestures during the match.

But that was not the end of the bad fortunes for K’Ogalo.

Shaffiq Batambuze was shown red in the 77th minute of the match after recording a second bookable offense.

That wasn’t all either. Petro coach Beto Bianchi was also ejected from the match for dissent against the referee.

The players donned black arm bands in honour of the Ethiopian plane crash victims and a minute silence observed for football administrator Swaleh Mtetu who perished in the crash.

Oktay had unleashed his best available charges for the game, with star striker Dennis ‘The Menace’ Oliech starts from the bench as Rwandan Jacques Tuyisenge leads the team’s front line that also has talented up starter Nicholas Kipkurui.

In the absence of injured goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch, Peter Odhiambo stood in goal and he will be covered by Philemon Otieno, Shafik Batambuze, captain Harun Shakava and Charles Momnayi.