Wasteful Gor held again by stubborn Western Stima in Kisumu

Western Stima FC players. [File]

Defending champions Gor Mahia were held to a 0-0 stalemate by troubled Western Stima yesterday in an entertaining SportPesa Premier League match at Moi Stadium, Kisumu.

The draw pushed Hassan Oktay’s men to 60 points, five adrift of Sofapaka in second, but with a game in hand.

Speaking after the match, Oktay blamed his strikers and said they are going to work on their finishing.

“We played well but wasted a lot of clear goal-scoring opportunities. This means we have to work on our finishing before the next match,” he said.

The champions, however, will have to do without former Harambee Stars Dennis Oliech who was withdrawn and rushed to the hospital at the hour mark after he got injured.

Oliech was immediately replaced by Nicholas Kipkirui in a match that saw the two sides waste opportunities to score.

Kennedy Otieno was first to miss a clear chance of putting the power men ahead but failed to connect with Hubert Kopany’s cross before Francis Kahata did the same in the 24 minute, failing to beat Samwel Odhiambo from a Philemon Otieno delivery.

Despite K’Ogalo dominating the match in the first half, the scores remained unchanged into the second half with Oliech and his substitute Kipkirui missing clear scoring chances.