Gor Mahia coach Johnathan McKinstry has refused to blame goalkeeper Caleb Omondi for the goal they conceded during their Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Community Shield Cup victory against Kakamega Homeboyz at Kasarani Stadium on Saturday.

After taking the lead in the opening minutes of the second half courtesy of Boniface Omondi’s well-taken shot from outside the box, K’Ogalo were pegged back when Omondi failed to take care of a free-kick from Estone Esiye allowing Eric Ambunya to pounce and make it 1-1, taking the 2023-24 season curtain raiser to post match penalties.

Though Gor Mahia emerged 4-2 winners from the shootouts after Homeboyz duo of Robinson Kamura and Stephen Opoku had their spot kicks saved and Lyson Muyonga delivered the decisive kick to secure K’Ogalo their first silverware of the season, the Northern Irish tactician admitted being disappointed with how his backline defended the set piece that led to the equalising goal.

“I am personally very disappointed we conceded the goal the way we did because I cannot put any problem on the goalkeeper, it was the job of the wall to defend the ball before it dropped down, the wall did not do its job, and the most disappointing part, the ball did not go over the wall, but it went right through it which is very disappointing,” said McKinstry.

Gor Mahia players led by striker Benson Omalla and John Macharia struggled to cope with the pace of Homeboyz players and with only 13 days left before they face Sofapaka in their FKF Premier League opener, McKinstry refused to press the panic button insisting he still has enough time to bring the best out of his squad.

“I admit my players struggled in the game, I have a few who are yet to get to full match fitness, we have not been training like Homeboyz, and that is why someone like Omalla, who hasn’t been training, struggled the same as Macharia, who had a little knock,” McKinstry said, adding: “I know many people wondered because of how they played, especially Omalla, but we are on our way up, we are almost getting better, and I know we will be ready before we face Sofapaka in two weeks’ time.”

On the overall outcome of the game, the former Uganda Cranes coach said: “Kudos to FKF for the good organization and I think it was a good pre-season game, we only started training and Homeboyz have been training a week or two weeks earlier as they will play in CAF competition, so it was a game between a team that has been shaping up for a while and one that has just embarked on training.

“It was an evenly contested match, we played to win, I fielded a squad to give us the trophy, and I am delighted at the end we won the season opener, I also take this opportunity to wish Homeboyz well in their Caf assignment.”
K’Ogalo will begin their title defence against Batato ba Mungu on August 26.