K’Ogalo scored two late goals on Saturday to win 3-1 against the Army, winning 4-3 on aggregate
Gor Mahia stand-in coach Sammy Omollo has stated he had a feeling his team will advance despite conceding late in the game in the second leg of the first round in the Caf Champions League game against APR.
Samuel Onyango scored for the home team in the first half before substitute Keddy Nsanzimfura equalized for the visitors in the 81st minute. It seemed APR were cruising to the next stage but Sydney Ochieng’ and Nicholas Kipkirui struck late to win the tie for the Kenyan champions.
The Posta Rangers coach has now expressed his feelings after the Army got their equalizer.
“Definitely you must get worried as a coach when your opponent scores late in the game,” Omollo told Goal.
“But I had a feeling that we will get the result we need to advance because the boys were determined. Yes, time was running out but you could see the urgency in the players and how determined everyone was to get a goal.
“The pressure we piled, plus the over-excitement and confidence from the visitors made it easy for us to get the result we wanted.”
The 51-year-old has further revealed what he told his subs, especially Nicholas Kipkirui who was introduced with a few minutes to go with the team desperate for goals.
“I told Kipkirui to motivate other players and encourage them to flood the opponent’s danger zone,” Omollo continued.
“I am happy that he did exactly that and you could see, in the latter stages of the game, we filled their 18-yard area. Eventually, we scored the winner and advanced to the next round.”
As a result, Gor Mahia will face CR Belouizdad of Algeria in the second preliminary round of the competition.
While K’Ogalo eliminated APR after a 4-3 aggregate win, CR Belouizdad of Algeria reached the next round after a 4-0 aggregate win against Al Nasr of Libya. The Algerian champions won the first leg away in Tripoli 2-0 and returned home to complete the job with another 2-0 win and will now face K’Ogalo.
According to the Confederation of African Football (Caf), the first leg will be played on December 22 or 23 in Algeria, with the return leg planned for January 5 or 6, 2021 in Nairobi.
The last time Gor Mahia played against an Algerian opponent was in 2019 when they were drawn to face USM Alger in the same competition.
USM Alger came to Nairobi and beat K’Ogalo 4-1 and returned home in Algiers to win the return leg 2-0 and advance to the next round with a 6-1 aggregate scoreline.
The two teams also met in the Confederation Cup in the 2018 season with the first leg staged in Kenya ending in a 0-0 draw before USM Alger won the return leg 2-1 at home to advance 2-1 on aggregate.
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