After beating Chemelil Sugar 3 – 0 in a mid-week league tie in Kisumu, Kenyan Premier League (KPL) leaders Gor Mahia will be away to Thika United at Thika Municipal stadium tomorrow (Sunday) from 4.15pm.
Thika United are deeply rooted at the relegation zone at 17th position with 21 points after playing 23 matches while K’Ogalo are at the summit with 50 points with the same number of matches as their host.
Over the past few season, Thika United have been known as league pace setters who end up finishing in one of the mid-table positions but that has not been the case this season as the milk men are finding themselves sweating below the red line.
Playing at home on a surface considered to be one of the poorest in KPL, Thika United will be riding on luck to at least pull something out of the tie like it was in first leg where the match between the two sides ended in a one all draw at the same venue.
For Gor, it will be a good fixture with two elements worth noting – chase for 16th league title and extending the agony of their opponents by revenging for the 2012 disaster where Thika United denied them the league title on the last day of the season with a 1-1 draw at City stadium.
If form is anything to go by, K’Ogalo will bank on it to bag maximum points. Dylan Kerr’s side have won four in their last five matches and drawing once while Thika United have just won once, drawn twice and lost twice.
In last 10 league meetings between the two teams, Thika United have never beaten Gor Mahia. The former champions have won six and drawn four matches. Worth taking into account, score lines of 2-1 win for Gor and 1 -1 draws have been the most common ones.
If things go Gor’s way, the journey to wrap up the 2017 league title will move one step closer to the champion’s podium while Thika United sink deeper in relegation zone.
Any fixture against a struggling team is not always easy and Kerr is not underrating their opponents despite having all the good odds to win tomorrow’s duel.
The tactician says they have prepared well and will approach the match with all the seriousness it deserves and with one aim – getting good results.
“At this time of the season, every match is important to us and as we all know, all teams in Kenya always up their game when facing Gor Mahia. We are set and we are not underrating any opponent. We will approach the match with the same intentions like it’s been in all matches,” Kerr told the official Gor Mahia website.