Gor Mahia midfilder Philemon Otieno has apologised to Gor fans for letting a win slip away in yesterday’s league match against Sofapaka in Machakos.
Gor Mahia smoked a 2-0 lead by halftime break but had to struggle to the final whistle to grab a 3-3 draw with a last minute effort by Innocent Wafula.
The midfilder, who currently operates at right-back position in the absence of Karim Nizigiyimana and Wellington Ochieng’, says the team do try to do everything right but perhaps due to lack of concentration, they blow away good chances to collect maximum points.
“At times, it’s hard to understand what exactly mess up our game when we have a good lead like yesterday. May be it’s because of lack of concentration and then we get punished,” Otieno told the official Gor Mahia website.
The hard working player says that as team, they truly feel it just like the fans do and apologised for easily giving away a game that they would have won. He further asked for patience as they will try to rectify what cause the lapses.
“It’s a bit frustrating to drop points with such a good lead. lt’s not the first time and we as players, we truly feel the kind of disappointment fans or stakeholders do feel when such happen…but l am calling for their patience because there is no crisis. We have a good team and we will try to work on what causes such disappointments. We are very sorry for what happened yesterday,” he added.
On other developments, the midfilder who joined Gor Mahia from Ushuru says, he is happy to have earned his first senior national team call up and it’s a dream come true in his football career.
“I am delighted to get my first call up to the senior national team. This has been my dream and it has come true. lt’s always a great feeling to be called upon to represent your country and that’s always a dream for many footballers.”
Having been in U-17 and U-20 national teams before, Otieno says it’s all about hard work and focus that has pushed him to this level where his aim is to even to achieve more.
“We are in a country full of talent and to earn such a call up it means you are doing something good. That’s exactly what l have been doing – working hard, focusing and always ready to learn from the best. l will continue to put in my best and hopefully achieve even bigger things in future.”
Harambee Stars is scheduled to play two friendly matches against Swaziland and Equitorial Guinea this coming weekend.