Like Fish to Water - Gor Mahia vs Bandari Through the Years

On November 12 1995, Gor Mahia travelled to Mombasa to face Bandari in their final game of the season. Gor Mahia led the league but Kenya Breweries (now Tusker) were just a point behind them and waiting to pounce on the league title should Gor Mahia fall to Bandari. There was bad blood between Gor Mahia and Bandari as earlier in the year, a game between the two in the Moi Golden Cup had to be abandoned in Mombasa in bizarre circumstances and awarded to Gor Mahia after several weeks on tussling. Goals from Tom Ochieng, Pius Wamaya and Steve Odiaga settled the scores as Gor claimed their 12th league title before settling for a 18 year wait for their next title.

Bandari has another association with Gor Mahia success. In 1984 CAF had banned Gor Mahia for 3 years following the infamous fiasco in Egypt. With AFC Leopards having dethroned Gor Mahia from the league in 1986, their route back to continental football was through the Moi Golden Cup, the newly relaunched FA cup. Standing on their way in the finals was Bandari who gave them a hard time before Sammy Onyango Jogoo's late strike sealed the win. Of course Gor was to go ahead and win the trophy.

Since then Gor Mahia has played Bandari 31 times in the league. We have tracked down all the results of this fixture and Gor Mahia generally had it easy, like fish taking to water. KÓgalo has won 15, lost 5 and drawn 11, in the process scoring 32 goals and conceeding 15.The surprise top scorer in this fixture for Gor Mahia is Godfrey Walusimbi who has scored three times while for Bandari it is Ambrose Ayoyi who has also scored three times. The two of them are also the only players to score a brace in this fixture while no player has managed a hattrick. The biggest winning margin is 4-0 by Gor Mahia on 15 February 1997, 3-0 by Bandari on 20 April 1991 and 3-0 by Gor Mahia on 12 November 19995.

Walusimbi in action against Bandari

Pic: http://www.soka.co.ke/

As Gor Mahia matches towards their 16th league title, they start as favourites to win this weekend's match. With George Odhiambo in fine form, he could join the Walusimbi and Ambrose Ayoyi in the 3 goal club for this fixture as he has already score 2 goals (2009/ 2016). For Bandari, it has been six matches against Gor Mahia since their last win (2-1 on 30 March 2014) and will be hoping to break this streak.