NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 – Gor Mahia’s winless run stretched to the sixth game on Monday afternoon after losing a second successive game, going down by a solitary goal to Ulinzi Stars at the ASK Showground in Nakuru.
Defender Alex Masinde scored the lone goal for the soldiers in the first half as Ulinzi ran out winners at home to move to 10th in the standings while Gor remained seventh.
Gor Mahia have had a troubled season and when it looked as though they would have a silver lining at the end, things just seem to be crumbling.
The departure of head coach Carlos Manuel vaz Pinto as well as midfielder Kenneth Muguna looks to have affected them as they have not looked the same since then.
Stand-in coach Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo had said they will be looking at a top four finish, but that also looks like a hard call to make looking at the way they are performing.
Against the soldiers in Nakuru, they found themselves trailing after 19 minutes when Masinde’s header after Masita Masuta’s ferocious freekick had come off the bar was adjudged to have crossed the line.
Keeper Gad Mathews had pulled himself back to pluck the ball away, but the second assistant referee had his flag up and sprinted to the halfway line, noting the ball had gone over the chalk.
Gor could have drawn level five minutes later but James Saruni made a great save, rising well to turn a John Ochieng header behind for a corner.
In the second half, Ulinzi almost scored the second eight minutes after the restart when Gor failed to clear away a corner, but Harun Mwale’s effort on the volley went straight to keeper Mathews’ arms.
Two minutes later, Mark Bikokwa was presented with a golden chance when Harun Shakava’s effort to try clear a long ball ended up in a flicked assists for the Ulinzi forward, but he could not place the ball into the net after beating his marker.
With the clock ticking and another loss looking imminent, Omollo made changes with John Macharia, Clifton Miheso and Tito Okello all coming on to charge up the attack.
Okello almost drew Gor level in the 70th minute off a counter attack. Karim Nikiema took on a daunting run from the middle of the pack before releasing the South Sudanese international. But his shot hit the crossbar.
Gor piled more pressure on the soldiers, trying to open up their back off set pieces but they could not have any success with Saruni holding on for his 12th clean sheet of the season.