10-man Gor Mahia down Tusker to move second

In what turned out to be a show of hard work and determination, 10-man Gor Mahia fashioned out a thrilling 1-0 victory over Tusker in a rescheduled SportPesa Premier League match at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos County on Wednesday.

The up and coming Nicholas Kipkurui scored the winning goal of this match eleven minutes after the restart for the champions.

Formerly at Zoo Kericho before joining the league champions at the start of this season, the youngster rose highest to meet an inviting corner kick from Samuel Onyango.

He met the ball with his forehead and cleverly directed it past two defenders and Tusker goalie Emery Mvuyekure into the net.

This goal was, however bitterly opposed by Tusker players and coach Robert Matano with both claiming the scorer had infringed on his marker.

These protests ended up falling on deaf ears.

Fast forward to the 80th minute, the brewers managed to have the ball in the back of the net through Bill Oporia's header.

But as the dreadlocked attacker was turning away to celebrate, he was stopped in his tracks by match referee Caroline Wanjala's whistle and gesture of a free kick to Gor Mahia instead.

She ruled that an infringement had occurred in the danger area in the run-up, handing Oporia an unfair advantage.

The result provided sweet victory for K'Ogalo as the Kenyan champions had to play for more than an hour of this game with ten minutes.

This followed a straight red handed to first-choice goalkeeper Boniface Oluoch by Wanjala.

Moments earlier, Oluoch had appeared to handle the ball with his hands outside the box in his attempt to stop a David Juma attack. The keeper was replaced by Shaban Odhoji with George 'Blackberry' Odhiambo sacrificed in the process.

In between these moments, Samuel Onyango missed three clear chances for Gor Mahia, with one of those coming off the upright on 66 minutes. Rwandan Jacques Tuyisenge too saw an easy effort blaze over the bar.

Tusker were also unfortunate. Juma was also denied a chance by the upright in the first half and moments later, former Gor Mahia striker Timothy Otieno saw his effort cleared off the line by Harun Shakava.

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