A Hatrick of Perfect Starts as Olunga, Abondo joins the Double Boys

The Kenyan Premier League finally kicked off over the weekend despite the stalemate dogging KPL and FKF over the number of teams to be in the league. Having already played two competitive games, K’ogalo began their title defense with a 4-2 victory over Mathare United courtesy of a brace each by the returning boy Ali Abondo and new signing Michael Olunga. A few years began there was talk that Gor Mahia rarely won their first league games, a jinx that was seemingly broken in 2012 with a 2-0 win over Thika. I have checked the records and can indeed confirm that between between 2003 and 2012, Gor had indeed found it difficult to win their opening games having won only once, beating Homegrown 4-2. Since 2012, the Victory against the slum boys was our 3^rd consecutive opening day victory. The following are our opening day results over the last 10 years.

2005 Lost to Kangemi United 1-2

2006 Drew with Securicor 1-1

2007 Won against Homegrown 4-2

2008  Lost to KCB 0-1

2009 Lost to Ulinzi 0-1

2010 Drew with Western Stima 0-0

2011 Lost to Rangers 3-0

2012 Won against Thika 0-2

2013 Won against Sofapaka 1-0

2014 Won against City Stars 2-0

2015 Won against Mathare United 4-2

As you can see from the results over the year, this result also matched our biggest opening day victory which was way back in 2007.

Ali Abondo on the double

(Pic courtesy of http://www.gormahiafc.co.ke/)

Seeing two players net a brace each also got me checking on the last game we had two players each score two goals. Well there have not been many games we have scored more than 4 goals and one would therefore have to look beyond 2008 for two doubles in a league game. Unfortunately my records for goal scorers are not comprehensive pre-2008. However in 2013 both Dan Sserenkuma and Kevin Omondi Ade helped themselves to two apiece in the 6-0 walloping of Shabana during a FKF GOTv Shield match. Ali Abondo and Michael Olunga however joins a select club of the double boys and since 2008, bringing the number of the double boys to 9. The members of this club are

1. Danny Sserenkuma (8)
2. Duncan Owiti (3)
3. Rama Salim (2)
4. George Odhiambo Blackberry (2) 
5. Kevin Omondi (2)
6. Baldin Ngwa (1)
7. Paul Kiongera (1)
8. Ali Abondo (1)
9. Michael Olunga (1)

      

      The following table gives a breakdown of the doubles

Date	Player	Team
21 Feb 2015	Michael Olunga	Mathare United
21 Feb 2015	Ali Abondo (2)	Mathare United
4 Oct 2014	Dan Sserenkuma (3)	City Stars
20 Sep 2014	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	Chemelil
19 July 2014	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	AFC Leopards
11 Sep 2013	Kevin Omondi (2)	Shabana
11 Sep 2013	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	Shabana
2 Mar 2013	Paul Kiongera (2)	Anse Re-union
4 Nov 2012	Dan Sserenkuma (3)	Muhoroni Youth
22 Sep, 2012	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	AFC Leopards
17 Aug, 2012	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	Mathare United
21 Jul, 2012	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	City Stars
8 Jul, 2012	Rama Salim (3)	KCB
12 may, 2012	Rama Salim (2)	KCB
17 Apr, 2011	Kevin Omondi (2)	Thika United
11 Jul, 2010	George Odhiambo (2)	Chemelil
3 Apr, 2010	Duncan Owiti (2)	Mahakama
8 Nov, 2009	Duncan Owiti (2)	KCB
27 Sep, 2009	Baldin Ngwa (2)	Red Berets
2 May, 2009	Duncan Owiti (2)	Mathare United
25 Apr, 2009	George Odhiambo (2)	Red Berets

Trivia: When was the last time K’ogalo scored more than 3 goals in a league game without a foreigner scoring? 

Rama's Double Figure, Top Shooters and the Double Boys

I was not at City Stadium to witness the game versus Oserian but kept a keen eye on the scores update. It was thus not a surprise for me to hear Rama Salim notch his 10th league goal of the season and 13th overall for K'ogalo. This makes him the highest Gor scorer in a season over the past 5 years, breaking loose off the 9 goals he jointly held with George Blackberry Odhiambo. In just one season, Rama has also equaled Baldin Ngwa's 10 goals that he scored in 3 seasons and is only 6 goals shy of "Berry's total of 16 goals in 2 seasons. He still has 8 games to achieve this. Here is a list of K'ogalo's top scorers in the league over the past 5 seasons.

	Player	Goals
1	George Odhiambo “Blackberry”	16
2	“Dr” Rama Salim	10
2	Baldin Ngwa	10
3	Julius “Awilo” Owino	9
4	Kevin Omondi “Daddy”	8
4	Duncan Owiti “Macheda”	8

The following is how Rama has scored his 10 league goals.

vs. Mathare Utd - 1
vs. Sofapaka - 1
vs.Chemelil - 1
vs. KCB - 5
vs. City Stars - 1
vs. Oserian - 1

Last week I did not blog after the Mathare draw but here are a few interesting stats from that game:
That was Gor's 7th successive draw in the league against the chokoras. Sserenkuma's double followed Duncan Owiti's double against the slum boys in 2009, the last time K'ogalo beat Mathare in a league game. It was also Sserenkuma's second double for Gor, following his double against City Stars in July. In scoring 2 against Mathare, he became the 4th K'ogalo to score a double more than once in the past 5 years in the league. Duncan Owiti "Macheda" leads the way with 3 during this period and KCB seems to be the teams K'ogalo players like scoring doubles against! Below is a list of the K'ogalos who have netted more than once in a game over the last 5 seasons, with Rama Salim being the only one to have bagged a hatrick!

Date	Player	Team
17 Aug, 2012	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	Mathare United
21 Jul, 2012	Dan Sserenkuma (2)	City Stars
8 Jul, 2012	Rama Salim (3)	KCB
12 may, 2012	Rama Salim (2)	KCB
17 Apr, 2011	Kevin Omondi (2)	Thika United
11 Jul, 2010	George Odhiambo (2)	Chemelil
3 Apr, 2010	Duncan Owiti (2)	Mahakama
8 Nov, 2009	Duncan Owiti (2)	KCB
27 Sep, 2009	Baldin Ngwa (2)	Red Berets
2 May, 2009	Duncan Owiti (2)	Mathare United
25 Apr, 2009	George Odhiambo (2)	Red Berets

Bring on Sony!

Gor vs Mathare United Preview

If someone is to go by stats, then today’s game against Mathare United would be a draw. The past five league games between K’ogalo and the chokoras have produced 5 consecutive draws. You have to go back to the return leg of the 2009 for a positive result for either team, when Mathare beat Gor 2-1 with Zablon “Pro” Otieno being on the scoresheet for K’ogalo. Earlier that season, Duncan Owiti “Macheda” had made his sensational debut bagging a double as Gor ran riot over Mathare, winning 3-1. It was the last time Gor beat Mathare United in a league game. Gor of course beat Mathare 2-0 last year in a Top 8 cup but can Gor break the 6 game winless streak against the chokoras today? 

In the last 5 seasons, Gor are averaging a point a game against Mathare, with the record reading played 9, won 1, lost 2 and drawn 6. This is the most number of draws against a single team for K’ogalo in the past 5 seasons. Only Karuturi and Sofapaka come close with 5 apiece. During this period Gor has shipped 9 goals past Mathare but has also let in 9.

Going into this game, Kevin Omondi will have an opportunity to become the second K’ogalo player to score for the club in the league in 3 consecutive seasons having scored 4 times in 2010 and 4 times in 2011. Only Dan Makori managed this between 2010 and 2012. Rama Salim will have the opportunity to get into double figures while Sserunkuma, if he scores once, will have tied last season’s top scorer with 4 goals, illustrating why we could not win the league last season. 

Sofapaka’s Draw Against K’Ogalo – Stats on Gor’s Draw Masters

By holding Gor to a goalless draw last evening, Sofapaka has now joined Karuturi as the masters of the drawn game against Gor. Their defensive approach ensured they got their fifth draw against Gor in 8 league games since they stepped into the top tier four seasons ago. Only Mathare United (6 draws, 66.7% of games played) has held K’ogalo to more draws over the past five seasons.  Here are top 6 teams in terms of percentage ratios (draws against number of games played) who have set out to frustrate Gor with draws (only teams who have played Gor in 2 or more seasons).

Team	Games Played	Draws	Percentage ratios
Mathare United	9	6	66.7%
Sofapaka	8	5	62.5%
Karuturi	9	5	55.6%
Tusker FC	9	4	44.4%
Ulinzi Stars	9	3	33.3%
Red Berets	6	2	33.3%

By failing to concede in the game against K’ogalo, Sofapaka -0.6%- remains second behind Karuturi – 0.4% (with the exception of Oserian & Muhoroni Youth who joined the league this season) as the teams to have conceded the least average number of goals against K’ogalo, a testimony to the number of draws played. Sofapaka has conceded 5 goals in 8 games while Karuturi has only conceded 4 in 9 games. With a game still remaining against Karuturi in Nairobi, K’ogalo will have another chance to improve on that stat before the season ends.