Gor resume training

By Robin Toskin

Gor Mahia have resumed light training without their Croatian magician of a coach Zdravko Logarusic with fitness trainer Mikael Igendia tasked to get K’Ogalo in tip top shape before facing AFC Leopards on Sunday.

K’Ogalo officials were coy on Monday as to when their touchline king of drama would return, with both secretary general George Bwana and assistant coach Bobby Ogolla saying, “He would return in the course of the week.”

Having closed the gap on Leopards to two points with a win over Sony Sugar on September 9, Logarusic flew to Croatia perhaps for some pod pekom cuisine before the energy-sapping derby at Kasarani.

In his absence, however, his in-form charges have been boosted by return to training of midfielder Joseph Njuguna.

 Overtaking lane

Midfielder Moses Odhiambo skipped Monday’s morning training after complaining of  fever.

Gor Mahia, as their fans have been joking that “they have now switched to the overtaking lane as AFC Leopards choke,” will hope to shift gears this Sunday to shoot to the summit of the KPL table.

K’Ogalo have enjoyed heart-warming form, winning the KPL Top 8 with a 2-0 beating of Ulinzi Stars and are in the quarterfinals of the President’s Cup.

They are also unbeaten in the league since losing 1-0 to Ulinzi Stars at Afraha on April 21. In 13 matches since then, Gor Mahia have won 10 and drawn three times yet Logarusic nonchalantly said he would talk about the KPL title once there is no team ahead of him.

Tusker returned to the top of the table with a 2-0 win over KCB and are also yet to play Gor Mahia.

As Sir Alex Ferguson once said, this is Kenya’s squirmy bum time.

With AFC Leopards wobbling, Gor Mahia will look to pounce come Sunday at Kasarani in a fixture the KPL leaders say is a must win.

 Chilling admission

However, Jan Koops will have to find answers to their catastrophic defending against Western Stima especially with Edwin Masika racing against time to be fit for the derby.

Midfielder Floribert Ndayisaba also sat out the defeat to Stima while striker Victor Ochieng has played bit part role since the second leg.

Koops made a chilling admission after the loss on Saturday saying he was let down by the defence. “The defeat to Stima was one of my worst days in office. We were not composed and committed far too many errors,” Koops said. The forward line, too, failed to deliver with Baraza’s goal and Nahimana’s freekick being the only attempts at goal, he added.