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!

A Tale of 3 Coaches - The Stats

I recently overheard fans debate about whom between current coach Frank Nuttal and former coaches Logarusic and Williamson had the better starts at K’Ogalo. The popular belief is that having lost just one game out of his first twenty league games at K’ogalo, Nuttal is the man. Well, I made a mental note to find out what the stats had to say about that.  

My findings, contrary to the outcome of the debate, was that Logarusic had the better start albeit just. In the first 20 games, loga won 14 and amassed 46 points against Nuttal’s 13 wins and 45 points. This translates to a win rate of 70% for Loga compared to 65% for Nuttal. Williamson won 12 and amassed 42 points, a win rate of 60%.

Fans however like an attacking game and if we are to judge an attacking side by the number of goals scored, then we see Nuttals side have the edge, scoring on average 1.75 per game. Loga’s team scored  on average 1.4 goals per game while Bobby’s was 1.25 per game. One might argue that Nuttal had both the benefit of club legend Danny Sserenkuma and the current trio of Kagere, Olunga and Abondo to work with but that’s academic. But is Nuttal just attack minded while Loga and Bobby were masters of defense?  Well, on that front it seems like Bobby was more defensive of the two, conceding just 8 in his first twenty games.

Coach	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Win %age	Goals (& ave. pg)	Goals conceded
Zdvarko Logarusic	14	4	2	46	70	28 (1.4)	11 (0.55)
Bobby Williamson	12	6	2	42	60	25 (1.25)	8 (0.4)
Frank Nuttal	13	6	1	45	65	35 (1.75)	12 (0.6)

This is all academic though as at the end of the day success is judged by trophies. Though Logarusic won 2 trophies, when it came to the one that mattered most, both Williamson and Nuttal triumphed where he failed. And now Nuttal has the opportunity to extend his bragging rights by defending the league crown, going unbeaten or even leading the club to CECAFA glory. Only time will tell.

Nuttal doing the business

Sirkal Begins Title Hunt With Victory: Opening Numbers

Kógalo began their 2013 season with a 1-0 win over Sofapaka yesterday, courtesy of a Paul Kiongera goal, his first in the league for Kógalo. This is the second successive season that Gor has won their opening game after having recently gained the distinction of being slow starters in the league. Last season Sirkal beat Thika United 2-0 but before that you have to go back to 24th September 2006 when they beat Homegrown 4-2 in the opening fixture of the 2006-2007 season. Sirkal lost to KCB 1-0 in 2008, to Ulinzi 1-0 in 2009, drew 0-0 with Western Stima in 2010 and lost 3-0 to Rangers in 2011. 

Kiongera celebrates strike against Sofapaka

The win over Sofapaka brings Kógalo's unbeaten streak in the league to a remarkable 20 games, the last loss coming against Ulinzi on 21st April 2012. Remarkably too, coach Logarusic has only lost 2 league games since he took over the helms at Kógalo. The win over Sofapaka also means that they are yet to beat Kógalo since their debut league encounter in 2009 when Sofapaka won 2-1. Gor has since gone on to win 3 games and drawn 5 games. 

Image courtesy of Supersport