Monday 24 September 2012

Sserunkuma Double Show as K’ogalo Rein in Ingwe: The Stats



On Saturday Dan Sserunkuma fired a double to help K’ogalo not only beat Ingwe and claim the derby bragging rights, but significantly to leapfrog them on the log with 5 games to go and edge ahead on head to head scores since the beginning of the new look KPL (now TPL) 5 seasons ago. Here is a run down on the stats milestones during the game. 

Sserunkuma has amazingly now scored 7 goals for K’ogalo in less than half a season since joining Gor, that’s 7 goals in 10 games, an amazing feat by local standards. What’s more, his goals for K’ogalo always seem to come in doubles! It was only in his debut against Western Stima that he scored one goal, the rest of the games that he has scored in, he has scored twice in each. He scored doubles against City Stars, Mathare United and AFC Leopards. I am sure the double against Ingwe will remain the most famous amongst K’ogalo fans. 

His double was also the fifth that a K’ogalo has scored this season. The others were scored by Rama, 2 against KCB in the first leg and a hatrick against the same opponents in the second leg. Interestingly, last season a K’ogalo scored a double only once, Kevin Omondi against Thika United in Thika. A few weeks back I wrote about K’ogalo’s double boys which you can read HERE.

The game against Ingwe was the 8th league game since Ingwe’s return to the top flight four seasons ago. Win this victory, we now have 4 wins against Ingwe’s 3 with one game having ended in a draw. The 2 Sserunkuma goals also brings our tally of goals against Ingwe to 9 against 8 that they have scored. This rivalry looks set to continue being a close one. 

Meanwhile a couple of photos on the stadium atmosphere last Saturday 

Fans wait to get into Kasarani minutes before kick off
From my vantage point



Monday 17 September 2012

It's Squeaky Bum Time: K'ogalo's Run-In Stats


We have reached that stage of the league which Roberto Mancini so famously described during the last EPL season as “squeaky bum time”  - that time when the only teams not feeling any sort of heat are the teams that can neither win the league nor get relegated. And contrary to the expectations after 10 games at the beginning of the season, K’ogalo are right in the mix. The title racearithmetics for K’ogalo is now simple, we win all our remaining games and we become champions regardless of other results. But the run in is never simple. With six games to go, I now take a look at how we have done in our last six games over the last 4 seasons, with the most dramatic being the 2010 season when we were competing for the championship until the last day of the season. 

In 2008, we had started the season poorly, winning only 3 of our first 10 games and 5 of the first 20 games. However going into the last 6 games we had stabilized a bit and though there was still a remote possibility of relegation, we knew we would survive. In the final run in we faced Bandari, Mahakama, Mathare Youth, Agrochemicals, Chemelil and City Stars. The results (3 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws) were as follows:

10 October vs Bandari – Won 1-0 (Julius “Awilo” Owino)
18 October vs Mahakama – Won 1-0 (???)
01 November vs Mathare Youth – Won 4-3 (Zablon Otieno, Julius Owino, John Rigo, Habil Otieno)
09 November vs Agrochemicals – Lost 0-1
15 November vs Chemelil – Drew 0-0
30 November vs City Stars – Drew 0-0

In 2009 we had pretty much established ourselves as a stable team and it was now obvious the dark years of instability at the turn of the millennium were now behind us. We had however started the league on a shaky note and only won 3 of the first 10 games (including a 3-2 win over Ingwe at Kasarani) but were finishing the league strongly once again. Our final 6 games included fixtures against Red Berets, Tusker, Agrochemicals, Bandari, KCB and Karuturi. The results (4 wins, 2 losses) were as follows:

27 September vs Red Berets – Won 3-0 (Baldin Ngwa [2], Francis Ocholla)
18 October vs Tusker – Won 1-0 (George Odhiambo “Backberry”)
24 October vs Agrochemicals – Won 2-1 (Ibrahim Kitawi, Eric Masika)
31 October vs Bandari – Lost 1-2 (Peter Opiyo “Pinchez”)
08 November vs KCB – Won 2-1 (Duncan Owiti “Macheda” [2])
30 November vs Karuturi – Lost 0-1

2010 began with 4 consecutive draws and only 3 wins in the first 10 games but a very strong 2nd leg saw us go into the last six games in contention for the title, a mirror of the season we have had this year. This run also included a game against the old enemy, Ingwe, in between games against Mahakama, Karuturi, Thika, Sony and City Stars. The results (4 wins and 2 draws) were as follows:

26 September vs Mahakama – Won 2-0 (Ibrahim Kitawi, Kevin Omondi “Daddy”)
16 October vs Karuturi – Drew 0-0
23 October vs AFC Leopards – Won 1-0 (Collins Okoth)
30 October vs Thika – Won 1-0 (Ivan Anguyo)
06 November vs Sony – Won 2-0 (Kevin Omondi “Daddy”, Baldin Ngwa)
17 November vs City Stars – Drew 0-0

Collins Okoth celebrates the goal that downed Ingwe

In any other year prior to 2008, the season we had in 2011 would have been taken as successful but given the progression of the club over the last few years, a 4th place finish (despite winning the FKL Cup) was considered a disaster and Zico had to go. The season began with a 3-0 loss to Rangers and despite 5 wins in the first 10 games, there would be a mid season slump of 8 games without victory and 4 losses that saw us drop off the pace. Towards the end, the race seemed to be about finishing above the old enemy and we would eventually finish 4th, one place above Ingwe despite their strong run under their new tactician Jan Koops. Going into our last 6 games, which game on the back of a 3-0 loss to Ingwe, we faced Bandari, Chemelil, Sony, City Stars, Rangers and Sofapaka. The results (3 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss) were as follows: 

15 October vs Bandari – Lost 0-1
24 October vs Chemelil – Drew 0-0
30 October vs Sony – Won 2-1 (Ivan Anguyo, Dan Makori)
02 November vs City Stars – Won 1-0 (Moses Otieno)
17 November vs Rangers – Won 3-0 (Dan Makori, John Kiplangat, Anthony Akumu)
26 November vs Sofapaka – Drew 0-0

We are obviously a team that can handle the pressure of the run-in, always winning more than we lose or draw at the death. Now let’s rally behind the boys and see how they will handle the pressure of a run in and do better than the class of 2010 as we hope for a record that reads WWWWWW

Wednesday 12 September 2012

On Anguyo and the Licking of Sony Sugar

Before last Sunday's game, Sony Sugar FC had been one of the teams that had a better record head to head on us in the last 5 seasons. Ivan Anguyo however corrected that by ensuring we draw level with them in terms of wins. Our record versus Sony now reads played 10, won 4, lost 4 and drew 2 with an average of 1.4 points per game over them. The following is our record with Sony over the past 5 seasons.

2012
09 September 1-0 (Ivan Anguyo)
23 March 0-0

2011
30 October 2-1 (Ivan Anguyo, Dan Makori)
25 August 0-0

2010
06 November 2-0 (Baldin Ngwa, Kevin Omondi)
14 March 1-1 (Francis Ocholla)

2009
19 September 1-2 (Baldin Ngwa)
10 May (Duncan Owiti, George Odhiambo) - note this is not "Blackberry"

2008
20 Septemember 0-1
25 June 0-1

Anguyo Scores

Sserunkuma and Lavatsa join Anguyo in celebrating his goal against Sony

Anguyo's goal was his 4th for the club in the league, 2 this season, and 1 each in the last 2 season. This was also his 4th goal in all competitions for Gor this year, making him the 3rd highest scorer for K'ogalo behind Rama and Sserunkuma. He joines Baldin Ngwa as the K'ogalo who has scored twice against Sony during this period. Also Sony is one of the few clubs that have done a double over K'ogalo over the past 5 seasons. No club has done a double over K'ogalo this season - with only Muhoroni Youth, Tusker and Karuturi the only 3 teams remaining with that opportunity.

Two points behind Leopards, with six games to go and the derby coming up, these are indeed exciting times!

Tuesday 4 September 2012

On Streaks: K’ogalo’s Longest Unbeaten Streaks



I already did a piece about the Gor vs Ulinzi stats just before and after the Top 8 Final (for those who missed read it here and here) so little has changed since then. Today I will however focus on the league streaks.

Currently K’ogalo is on an 11 game streak without a loss in the league. A victory against Ulinzi Stars will see this run extend to 12. But is this our longest streak without a loss in the league over the past 6 seasons? The answer is no. In the 2010 season when we finished 2nd, we actually went the whole of the second leg of the season without a loss, a streak of 16 games, winning 11 games and drawing only 4. This streak ran from 26th May when we lost to AFC Leopards 1-0 and was only ended during the first game of the next season, when we infamously lost 3-0 to Rangers. Below is a record of that 16 game streak with the goal scorers for each game

Date
Opponent
Scores
Scorer
30 – May
Karuturi
1-0
Kevin Omondi
11 – July
Chemelil
4-1
George Odhiambo “Blackberry” (2)
Dan Makori
Julius Owino Awilo
18 – July
Tusker
2-0
George Odhiambo “Blackberry”
Kevin Omondi
31 – July
Western Stima
1-0
Andrew Ongwae
14 – August
Mathare United
1-1
Baldin Ngwa
18- August 
Ulinzi Stars
2-0
Baldin Ngwa
George Odhiambo “Blackberry”
22 – August
Rangers
2-0
Baldin Ngwa
Julius Owino Awilo
29 – August
Red Berets
0-0

11- September
KCB
2-0
Musa Mohammed
George Odhiambo “Blackberry”
15 – September
Sofapaka
1-1
Julius Owino “Awilo”
26 – September
Mahakama
2-0
Ibrahim Kitawi
Kevin Omondi
16 – October
Karuturi
0-0

23 – October
AFC Leopards
1-0
Collins Okoth “Gattuso”
30 – October
Thika United
1-0
Ivan Anguyo
6 – November
Sony
2-0
Kevin Omondi
Baldin Ngwa

For our longest winning streak in the league over the past 5 seasons, you however have to go back to 2008 between 28th September to 1st November when we won 5 in a row. The teams that suffered our wrath during this period were as follows

Date
Opponent
Scores
Scorer
28 – September
Western Stima
1-0
Zablon “Pro” Otieno
5 – October
Red Berets
2-0
??
10 – October
Bandari
1-0
Julius Owino “Awilo”
18 – October
Mahakama
1-0
??
1 – November
Mathare Youth
4-3
Zablon “Pro” Otieno
Julius Owino “Awilo”
John Rigo
Habil Otieno

 Now let's beat Ulinzi and see if Logarusic's team will match Zico's class of 2010.

Saturday 1 September 2012

Sir'kal Set To Switch Off Power Today - Here's The Record Against Stima


Today we take on Western Stima in the FKF Cup. I cannot remember ever playing Stima in a cup game so my stats against them are purely based on the league and specifically the past 5 seasons. There has been a misconception by some that Stima has generally caused K’ogalo problems but my stats suggest that we have actually reaped more points from Stima over the last 5 seasons than from any other team except City Stars. We have accumulated 20 points from both teams, at an average of 2.0 points per game.  They are followed by Chemelil and Thika who have given us 18 points each. Below is a table of the 5 most generous teams towards K’ogalo in the league.

Team
No of Games
No of Points
Average
Western Stima
10
20
2.0
City Stars
10
20
2.0
Thika United
9
18
2.0
Chemelil
10
18
2.0
KCB
10
17
1.7

In the process, Sirkal has shipped in 8 goals against Stima while conceding 5. For those interested, here are the K’ogalo boys who have scored those 8 goals.

23.06.2012 – Joseph “Pablo” Njuguna, Dan Sserunkuma
20.08.2011 – Kevin Omondi
23.03.2011 – Edwin Lavatsa
31.07.2010 – Andrew Ongwae
26.07.2009 – Baldin Ngwa
07.03.2009 – Peter “Pinchez” Opiyo
27.08.2008 – Zablon “Pro” Otieno

Who will add their name to this list today?

                                               Lavatsa against Stima in a past match

Edwin Lavatsa, if he scores today, will score his 7th goals in cup competitions in 2 years, making him K’ogalo’s most prolific cup scorer in the last 5 seasons. Lavatsa scored 4 goals last season en route to winning the FKF cup last season and has so far netted once in the competition this season and also scored one in the Top 8 cup. He is definitely K’ogalo’s main cup man. Another cup man is Moses Odhiambo “Dube” who scored 3 last season and has already bagged one this season. I however think he is likely to sit this one out as Loga looks set to give some of his main players a rest.

My prediction today? 2-0 to Sirkal.