The Teams That Kept Winning

UPDATE: Correction. In this post I originally erroneously mentioned that Logarusic's 2012 team had 7 wins on the trot while naming 8 teams they won against. With this correction, Ze Maria's team with 7 wins would be looking to equal the record and not surpass it. The table has been revised though the article remains the same so read it with that context in mind

On my last post on unbeaten streaks in the league, I promised to write something about the winning streaks as well. Before I go back in time to look at some of the historically long winning streaks in the league by Gor Mahia, let me first say something about José Marcelo Ferreira, otherwise better known as Ze Maria. The Brazilian takes K’Ogalo to the lakeside City of Kisumu for a premiership game against Kakamega Homeboyz. A win for Ze Maria will see him record his 8^th straight league victory thus surpassing the 7 game winning streak he currently shares with Zdravko Logarusic’ 2012 team. This is one more than Frank Nuttal set at the tail end of  2014 and beginning of the 2015 seasons and in mid 2015. Bobby Williamson’s longest winning streak was capped at 5 games. Ze Maria might not have won any trophy yet but he sure is proving to be just as good as his predecessors.  The following table shows the longest winning streaks in recent times including teams played and goals scored in the period.

Coach	Number of matches won	Clubs played Against	Goals For and Against
Zdravko Logarusic	8	Oserian, Ulinzi, Sony, AFC Leopards, Rangers, Karuturi, Tusker, Muhoroni Youth	13 – 2
Ze Maria	7	Sony, Bandari, Muhoroni Youth,  W Stima, Mathare, Sofapaka, Thika	12 – 1
Frank Nuttal	6	Muhoroni Youth, Ushuru, Mathare, Bandari, Chemelil, KCB	15 – 6
Frank Nuttal	6	Nakuru All Stars, Muhoroni Youth, Thika, Tusker, Chemelil, Thika	15 – 1

Fans of Logarusic will of course be able to point out that what he has going for him is that his list does include the old enemy AFC Leopards! 

Ze Maria - Pic courtesy of Soka

But how do these Gor Mahia teams compare to the legendary teams of the past? One has to look no further than the 1976 team which won 14 league games on the trot! Previously the 1972 team had won 11 consecutive league games, a feat matched by the 1985 team that won the league for the 3^rd time in a row. This team had previously in 1984 won 10 league games in a row, a feat matched by the history making 1987 team. Ze Maria definitely has his work cut out for him to match these achievements.  Let me summarize these in a table:

Team	Number of matches won	Clubs played Against	Goals For and Against
1976	14	Bata Bullets, Champion, MoW, Abeingo, Police, Maragoli, Police, Bata Bullets, Abaluhya, Prisons, Maragoli, Abeingo, Abaluhya, Champion	38 – 12
1972	11	Algenya, Bunyore, Nairobi Spurs, Kenya Army, Kenya Breweries, Black Mamba, Gema, Hakati, Prisons, Aselimbe, Police	34 – 7
1985	11	Kitale FC, Baruti, Maziwa, AFC Leopards, Rivatex, Nzoia, Shabana, Maziwa, KTM, Mombasa Wanderers, Kenya Breweries	30 – 6
1984	10	Benham, Cargo, Lake Warriors, Nzoia, KTM, Breweries, Transcom, Rivatex, Kisumu Posta, Kahawa	33 – 10
1987	10	Feisal, Busia Simba, Volcano, Kisumu All Stars, Lenana Warriors, Volcano, Breweries, Shabana, Reunion, Motcom	28 - 1

Trivia: The winning runs in 1972 and 1984 were stopped by our old enemy AFC Leopards (known as Abaluhya in the 70s)

Here’s to wishing Ze Maria’s boys all the best against Homeboyz and may the winning run continue!