NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 11 – Second half goals from Timothy Otieno, substitutes Oliver Maloba and John Ndirangu saw Gor Mahia beat arch rivals AFC Leopards 3-0 and bag the Super Cup in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Sunday.
AFC Leopards had hoped for revenge against K’Ogalo who beat them 3-0 in a Premier League fixture in May, but their bid fell flat out with a horrible second half performance against a half strength Gor side.
The 15-time Kenyan Premier League champions were missing up to eight first team players, but it didn’t show a bit against an Ingwe side who were almost full strength with the only first team absentees being Robinson Kamura and injured Mungai Kiongera.
Gor, the only side in the tournament to win their previous knockout games in regulation time was the better of the two finalists and Ingwe struggled to create clear cut chances.
Head coach Jose Marcelo Ferreira had returned to the touchline after missing the two previous matches and it gave the side a morale booster with most of the second choice players seeing an opportunity to impress the boss.
Meddie Kagere, crowned the tourney’s top scorer had the earliest chance of the game, but he missed a header by inches when he rose to meet a Wellington Ochieng cross. Innocent Wafula also had a header go wide from Francis Kahata’s delivery.
Salim Abdallah came to AFC’s rescue in the 26th minute when he cleared a few centimeters off the line after Francis Kahata’s lob had beaten Ian Otieno.
Timothy Otieno had a superb opportunity in the 34th minute when he was picked out by Kagere inside the box, but he could not get a meaningful shot on the ball, his effort going wide.
Allan Katterega had Ingwe’s best chances of the game, but both went begging. In the 36th minute, his well struck shot from the edge of the box went straight to keeper Fredrick Odhiambo while five minutes later, a header from a Marcus Abwao cross went over.
Gor came from the half time break breathing fire in attack. George Odhiambo had a shot in the 48th minute saved by Otieno before Kenneth Muguna rattled the crossbar with a well struck 52nd minute freekick.
On the hour mark, the 15-time KPL champions broke the deadlock when Otieno paid up for all his missed chances in the first half, striking a low shot into the bottom right of Otieno’s goal.
Ten minutes later, AFC’s Duncan Otieno came close to an equalizer but his rasping shot from the edge of the box was saved by Odhiambo in the Gor goal.
With barely three minutes on the pitch, substitute Maloba made it 2-0 with a simple touch into the net from an Odhiambo cross. AFC were punished after losing the ball cheaply in attack and Gor initiated a counter which bore the goal.
Ndirangu then crowned off the afternoon with a well struck effort from the edge of the box, also after just having come in.