K’Ogalo beat Thika United 2-1

Dan Sserunkuma (left) celebrates with Kevin Omondi and Eric Ochieng’ after they beat Thika United in Thika, Wednesday.  [Photo: Boniface Okendo / Standard]

By John Lawrence

Thika, Kenya: The County of Kiambu was painted green as Thika hosted Kenyan Premier League (KPL) leaders Gor Mahia Wednesday.

Adrenaline levels were high among the hosts and traders in Thika were reduced to spectators as noisy Gor fans took over the town.

Blaring vuvuzelas, pomp and colour accompanied by song and dance were the order of the day.

But even as fans shouted “Gini wase kawo (We have won this thing)!”, Gor chairman Ambrose Rachier sought to caution the fans against popping the champagne just yet.

“We have inched closer to the KPL trophy but we have not won it yet, so I still want to dispute the ‘gini wase kawo’ euphoria until we actually win it on the pitch. We will not be under any pressure in our remaining fixtures,” Rachier told FeverPitch.

 Thika West District’s Deputy Administration Police Commandant, Stephen Matu, said a number of the ‘Green Army’ members spent the night in Thika.

“We held a meeting with both officials on Tuesday and agreed that they should engage their respective supporters so that we could have a peaceful match.

“We also had undercover police officers who have been very helpful in gathering intelligence on how best to host the match. Thika is a peaceful town and we hope that even those fans who will spend the night in Thika won’t have problems,” Matu told FeverPitch.

In the stadium, over 70 policemen drawn from the Administration and regular police stood vigilantly by as fans followed the match, in what Matu described as “leaving nothing to chance”. He praised Gor fans for exemplary conduct. 

“We have round-the-clock surveillance using uniformed and civilian officers. The fans are well behaved and co-operative,” he said.

But the match was stopped in the seventh minute by centre referee Davies Omweno. The Thika Municipal Stadium must have carried over three times its capacity, forcing some fans to sit on the perimeter fence before match officials directed them to climb down. The fans obliged and after a five-minute break, the match resumed.