Time to Exorcice Karuturi Demons

This Saturday we take on Karuturi as we march towards the title. Karuturi has probably been K'ogalo's toughest opponent over the years and my stats can confirm this. We lost to them in the first leg of this season and last season we failed to beat them, drawing both games. The last time we beat Karuturi was on 30th May 2010 when Kevin Omondi scored the winning goal. It is the only time we have beaten them since 2007, with our previous victory before that being in 2007 when they were known as Sher. Our record against them since 2008 reads as P9, W1, D5, L3 (DLDLWDDDL). This is definitely not pleasant reading.  

The result of these previous 9 encounters are as follows:

2012
4 March lost 1-0

2011
13 August draw 1-1 (Collins Okoth)
13 March draw 1-1 (Eric Masika)

2010
16 October draw 0-0
30 May win 1-0 (Kevin Omondi)

2009
30 November lost 1-0
22 March draw 1-1 (Chris Wekesa)

2008
26 July lost 1-0
22 March draw 0-0

As you can see, only 4 K'ogalos have scored against Karuturi, making them the most miserly team Gor has faced amongst the teams that have been ever present in the league since 2008. A Karuturi win will make them the first team to do a double over Gor Mahia this season, in fact no team has done a double over Gor Mahia since Thika United in 2009.

Going into this game:
A Sirkal victory and a Tusker loss will see Gor Mahia move top of the table with 3 games to go.

A Danny Sserunkuma goal will see him move onto 8 goals, joining 6 other players who have scored 8 or more for K'ogalo over the past 5 seasons and only 1 goal short of Balckberry's 9 in 2010. 

A Kevin Omondi goal will see him join Dan Makori and Julius Owino as K'ogalos who have scored for Gor Mahia in 3 consecutive seasons since 2008.

A win will see K'ogalo extend their league winning streak to 6, the longest since the new KPL/TPL began in 2007.

Sirkal vs Rangers Preview: The Stats

On Wednesday night K’ogalo takes on Rangers in a match they must win to keep up the pressure on Tusker as they match towards their 13^th league title. For K’ogalo the equation is clear, win all their remaining 5 matches and they become champions for the 13^th time – and the first since 1995.Rangers have been in the top flight since the 2010 season when they came in as Posta Rangers and reverted to just Rangers after Posta bailed out as their sponsors the following season. Rangers are currently bottom of the league and their form of late suggests that K’ogalo should easily beat them. But what is K’ogalo’s record against Rangers. 

The following is K’ogalo’s record against Rangers in numbers.

1 for draw: there has only been 1 draw between the two, coming earlier this season when Baldin Ngwa scored late on for  1-1 draw at Nyayo Stadium. Rangers has also beaten K’ogalo only once, a 3-0 defeat at the start of the 2011 season.

2 for double scorers:  Baldin Ngwa is the only Gor player who has scored twice against Rangers, scoring in a 2-0 victory on 22^nd August 2010 and the equalizer earlier this year. 2 is also for the average points K’ogalo has taken from Rangers over the past 3 seasons. 

3 for wins: Gor has beaten Rangers 3 times, 1-0 and 2-0 in 2010 and 3-0 in 2011.

4 for goals conceded: K’ogalo has allowed Rangers to hit the back of their net 4 times in their 5 games since Rangers were promoted. 

5 for streaks: If Gor beats Rangers, this will be their 5^th consecutive victory in the league. Gor are currently on a 4 game winning streak (Oserian, Ulinzi, Sony and Leopards), equalling a 4 game winning streak between June 23 and July 21 this year (W. Stima, KCB, Chemelil and City Stars). The longest winning Sirkal managed last season was 3, between October 30 to 17 November (Sony, City Stars and Rangers). The last time Sirkal had a 5 game winning streak was between 28 September and 1 November 2008 (W. Stima, Red Berets, Bandari, Mahakama and Mathare Youth).

6 for Rangers destroyers: 6 K’ogalos have scored 7 goals against Rangers – George Odhiambo “Blackberry”, Julius Owino, Baldin Ngwa, Anthony Akumu, John Kiplangat, and Dan Makori. Only Anthony Akumu is a starter in the current team while Ngwa (on loan) and Julius Owino are currently turning out for Rangers.

7 for Sserunkuma goals: Dan Sserunkuma has scored 7 goals in the league for K’ogalo this season, the second highest this season behind Rama Salim. A goal against Rangers will take his tally to 8. Only 6 players have scored more than 7 goals in the league for K’ogalo over the past 5 seasons (George Odhiambo “blackberry”, Baldin Ngwa, Rama Salim, Julius Owino, Kevin Omondi and Duncan Owiti). 

versus Rangers in a previous match

For the die hard stats minded K’ogalo’s, feel free to contribute your stats in the comment section.