Defending champions Gor Mahia failed to capitalize on their game in hand advantage after being held to a 1-1 draw by Shabana in the midweek FKF Premier League match played at Machakos Stadium on Wednesday.
With two games in hand, Gor had the opportunity to close the gap between them and leaders KCB to three points but a late goal drama saw the record Kenyan champions drop two important points again.
Coming off a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Bidco United over the weekend, K’Ogalo needed the win to continue their push to reclaim the top spot, a position their fans have been synonymous with for the major part of the past seasons in the last decade.
After playing out to a wasteful and goalless first half, Christopher Ochieng gave hope to the thousands of Gor fans at Machakos Stadium when he scored two minutes after the restart.
However, K’Ogalo wasted numerous chances to kill off the game, an opportunity that Shabana took.
Enock Morrison was first shown a red card, giving Shabana more room to attack, a numerical advantage they capitalised on when their top scorer Mathew Tegisi beat Gad Mathews in goal for Gor to salvage a point for the Gusii side.
The draw leaves Gor Mahia fourth in the standings with 18 points, tied with archrivals AFC Leopards who ended their three-year winless run against Tusker at Dandora Stadium.
Ovella Ochieng, Sydney Lokale, Victor Omune and Boniface Munyendo all scored for Leopards as Ingwe hammered Tusker 4-1.
The last time Leopards edged out Tusker was in September 2021 when they won 1-0, a win that had evaded them until this year.
In other matches, Posta Rangers and Kakamega Homeboyz played out a late 1-1 stalemate.
A similar scoreline was witnessed in the match pitting Ulinzi Stars and Bandari.