Kibwage confident wounded Gor Mahia will bounce back against Djibouti side
Reading Time: 3min | Tue. 28.07.26. | 13:44
The Kenyan champions had hoped to build on their 5-0 demolition of Rwandese side APR only to fall to Ugandan champions on Monday afternoon
Gor Mahia assistant captain Michael Kibwage has rallied his teammates to respond strongly after their heartbreaking defeat to Vipers SC, insisting the race for a place in the CECAFA Kagame Cup semi-finals is far from over.
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K'Ogalo suffered a painful 1-0 defeat to the Uganda Premier League champions at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on Monday.
Substitute Gusto Mulongo struck deep into stoppage time to hand Vipers all three points.
The result left Gor Mahia with three points from two Group A matches, while Vipers moved to the summit with a perfect six points.
Reacting to the late setback, Kibwage admitted the defeat was difficult to take but maintained that the team remains fully focused on sealing a semi-final berth when they face Djibouti's Garde Républicaine in their final group match on Friday.
“Heartbreaking to lose in the last minute yesterday. But the pain is a driver for our final group game. The target for a semi-final slot remains solid,” Kibwage said.
New signing Humphrey Katasi made his competitive debut in goal for injured Bryne Omondi while Hansel Ochieng, Ebenezer Adukwaw and Ben Stanley all had opportunities as Gor Mahia looked to build on their emphatic opening victory.
The Kenyan champions started brightly, with Ochieng firing over after being picked out by Paul Ochuoga, before Vipers responded through Farouk Miya, whose long-range effort narrowly missed the target.
Rodgers Torach later created a headed chance for Paul Mboowa, while Adukwaw squandered Gor Mahia's best opening after being released by Lawrence Juma, blasting over the crossbar with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Katasi then produced a crucial one-on-one save to deny Miya late in the first half, ensuring the teams went into the break level after an entertaining opening 45 minutes.
With the match seemingly headed for a draw, Vipers found the breakthrough in stoppage time when Ashraf Mandela drilled a low cross into the box and Mulongo arrived unmarked to convert from close range.
Reflecting on the performance, Akonnor admitted Gor Mahia were second best for long spells and promised to address the shortcomings before Friday's decisive encounter.
“If we had moved better, we would have done better than we did. And so in the first half, a lot of free kicks were around; the game was played in our half. We couldn't really come out of our zone to play the way we wanted to play.
The personnel also could be a factor, but we will look at it in our next pre-match analysis, and we'll talk about it. But they made us uncomfortable. I mean, we need to have a different character.”
Victory over Garde Républicaine will see Gor sail into the semis.
