On a Friday night outing hosted by Mathare United at the Nyayo National Stadium, the K’ogalo boys staged a dramatic come back from two goals down to salvage a vital point against Coach Stanley Okumbi’s slum boys.
The match kicked off with high tempo with both teams displaying their intentions winning in the early stages. However the visitors, playing at the Nyayo National Stadium for the first time since the ill fated derby against AFC Leopards in March, fell behind in the 15th minute when Francis Ouma raced to battle Donald Mosoti off the ball and sneaked it away from approaching keeper Fredrick Onyango.
The stricker would come back to haunt already struggling Donald Mosoti in the Gor Mahia defense 10 minutes later. After a wonderful through play by winger Andrew Tololwa, Ouma beat the offside trap set by the Gor backline to race away into the 18 yard area. His shot met the narrowing efforts of Onyango but the keeper failed to collect his spill. Tololwa Andrew benefited and fired into an empty net.
Coach Logarusic pulled a first on his opponents, bringing in Kevin Omondi for tough timed Donald Mosoti. This meant the sinking back to central defense of versatile defensive midfielder Antony Akumu.
All came to fruition when the substitute forward played in Danny Sserenkuma. The Ugandan forward raced into the Mathare area, twisting and turning past central defense partnership of Lloyd Wahome and Antony Kimani to shoot past helpless Musalia.
This narrowed the host’s lead to just a goal at the break.
The second half would be a make or break for Gor Mahia and they would come twice closer before the Ugandan striker Danny Sserenkuma was the beneficiary of a clever chip by Joseph Njuguna. He looped the ball over Musalia for his brace on the 71st minute. Twists and turns would take the center stage with the Croatian pulling out full back Solomon Nasio to pave way for forward Itubu Imbem.
Mathare united came close to taking back the lead when Vincent Okello forced a low diving save from Onyango with a well curled low shot from a free kick spot at the edge of the box. Midfielder Andrew Tololwa would afterwards hoof away a right footed curl wide of the far post in the 85th minute with Gor Mahia defender David Owino well beaten.
Another scare would come late in the play when goalkeeper Fredrick Onyango raced off his line to lose an interception against speedy forward Francis Ouma but the run to the byline and the resultant cut back ended with Anguyo Ivan clearance.