Hitting the Panic Button? Inspiration from 1983

Reading comments by Gor Mahia fans on social media in the wake of 3 successive draws to begin the 2016 season makes can make one believe that all is getting lost as far as defending the title is concerned. This has of course been made worse by the fact that they have only scored one goal so far, and given that the club lost top scorers Michael Olunga and Meddie Kagere, the fans could be right that there might not be sufficient goals in the team to fire them to another title. This is despite bringing in the highly rated Rwandese captain Jacques Tuyisenge and perennial goal scorer Jacob Keli. Tuyisenge is yet to begin a game for the Champions while Keli has not been impressive so far. With this in mind, I decided to go as far back as 1976 to see whether, in the seasons that Gor Mahia has emerged as Champions, they have had a bad start. Can you begin the league with 3 draws (3 points, 1 goal) and win the title?

The list below provides a glimpse of how the title winning sides have previously began their campaigns

(Note prior to 1995, winning teams were awarded 2 points and not 3 hence the need to indicate maximum available points)

Year	First Three results	No of Goals	Point (max in bracket)
1976	Luo Union 1-1(Allan Thigo)	4	5 (6)
	Bata Bullets 1-0 (Allan Thigo)
	Champion 2-1 (Jerry Imbo, Allan Thigo)
1979	Gema 2-1 (??)	6	6 (6)
	Nyanam 3-0 (William “Chege” Ouma (2), Nahashon Oluoch “Lule”)
	Hakati 1-0 (Nahashon Oluoch “Lule”)
1983	Nzoia 1-1 (Hamisi Shamba)	2	1 (6)
	Motcom 0-1
	Kenya Breweries 1-3 (Abdalla Shebe)
1984	Benham 4-1 (George Onyango “Fundi”, Abbey Nassur, William Obwaka, Hesborn Omollo)	8	6 (6)
	Cargo 1-0 (Sammy Onyango “Jogoo”)
	Lake Warriors 3-1 (Hesborn Omollo, Abdalla Shebe, John Okello “Zangi”)
1985	KTM 1-0 (William Obwaka)	7	6 (6)
	Re Union 3-1 (Abass Magongo (2), Ben Oloo
	Kisumu Posta 3-0 (Ben Oloo, George Onyango “Fundi”, Hesborn Omollo)
1987	Hakati 1-0 (Peter Dawo)	5	6 (6)
	Lenana Warriors 2-1 (Peter Dawo, Sammy Onyango “Jogoo”)
	Kahawa United 2-0 (Peter Dawo (2))
1990	Shabana 3-0 (Peter Dawo (2), ??)	7	6 (6)
	Re Union 2-1 (Austin Oduor, Anthony Ndolo)
	Mumias 2-0 (??)
1991	Re Union 1-0 (Francis Kasinde)	2	5 (6)
	AFC Leopards 1-0 (Paul Ochieng)
	Breweries 0-0
1993	Prisons 2-1 (Allan Odhiambo (2))	5	6 (6)
	Kisumu Posta 1-0 (Fred Otieno)
	Mumias 2-0 (Allan Odhiambo)
1995	Re Union 3-0 (Dan Shikanda, Dan Ogada, Eric Obura)	5	7 (9)
	Utalii 1-0 (Tom Ochieng)
	Nzioa Sugar 1-1 (Steve Odiaga)
2013	Sofapaka 1-0 (Paul Kiongera)	2	6 (9)
	Ulinzi 0-2
	Mathare 1-0 (Dan Sserunkuma)
2014	City Stars 2-0 (Dan Sserunkuma, Geoffrey Kizito)	5	9 (9)
	Mathare 1-0 (Dan Sserunkuma)
	Western Stima 2-0 (Dan Sserunkuma, Kevin Omondi)
2015	Mathare 4-2 (Ali Abondo (2), Michael Olunga (2)	9	9 (9)
	Bandari 2-1 (Meddie Kagere, Ali Abondo)
	Chemelil 3-1 (Khalid Aucho, Meddie Kagere, Ali Abondo)

As demonstrated, this team can indeed gain inspiration from the 1983 team which began the season on a sour note ( two loses and one draw) and still went on to win the title! It is worth noting that that team would go on to win 8 of their next games scoring 27 goals including scoring 4 goals in 4 consecutive games. A tall order indeed.

Rwandese Marksman Jacques Tuyisenge. Can he fire K'Ogalo to league glory? (Pic from Soka.co.ke)

PS: Gor Mahia are currently on a 35 game unbeaten streak in the league, being the third longest run behind 47 by the talented mid 80s AFC Leopards team (85-87) and 38 by the same team that went unbeaten in 1988. I will be writing about other Gor Mahia unbeaten streaks next week.