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Gor Mahia captain Kenneth Muguna (left) consoles Ernest Wendo after the loss to NAPSA Stars during a CAF Confederations Cup tie at Nyayo Stadium last month. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]
Record Kenyan champions Gor Mahia will be seeking to return to winning ways when they host Kakamega Homeboyz today in a Football Kenya Federation-Premier League (FKF-PL) match at Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega County.
The defending champions' quest to battle their way up the FKF-PL standings hit a brick wall last weekend when they lost 2-1 to Nzoia Sugar at Mumias Sports Complex.
The loss saw Gor drop to 11th in the log with 16 points, 16 points adrift of leaders Tusker, but head coach Vaz Pinto is optimistic they can turn around their poor run of form.
Speaking to the Standard Sports, Pinto said the team is ready to go again after learning from their mistakes during their last match.
“It was disappointing to lose against Nzoia, especially after leading through the first half. We conceded very easy goals that should not be a problem to defend against, but we took that as a lesson.
“Today we are going to be clinical. We have to defend well until the last minute even if we leading by more than three goals. We need to score more goals too because the league is unpredictable and every team can win any game,” Pinto.
The K'Ogalo tactician down played fatigue as the cause of the recent poor form, saying they have a big squad with good players who can deliver anytime when called upon.
“Even though we have played many away games in the past three weeks, the players are fit and always ready to play. Win or lose, it is part of the game and I could not be happier to manage such a wonderful hardworking team,” he said.
Pinto believes the season is too early to call since they still have four matches on hand and anything can happen before the season ends.
Gor will be looking forward to end their four-match winless run after previously losing and drawing with NAPSA stars in CAF Confederation Cup assignments, drawing with AFC Leopards and losing to Nzoia.
Coach Pinto will have a full squad to pick from as there are no injury concerns after the last match against Nzoia.
Their last win came in the 3-1 success over Bandari in Mombasa last month.
On the other hand, Homeboyz too will be aiming to shrug off the 2-1 loss to AFC Leopards during the Western derby ahead of their tie with Gor knowing a win will take them two points above the champions.
The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting,
digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading
multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
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