‘Serikali’ meets ‘Sirkal’

After paving the way for the round of 32 fixtures of the Cup competition, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) action will return tomorrow and Sunday with the clash pitting Kenya Police against Gor Mahia the major highlight of the nine lined up across the country.

The fixture dubbed the ‘Sirkal derby’ will observe K’Ogalo seeking to stretch the gap at the top of the 18-team table to a massive 13 points and protect their unbeaten start to the campaign while Police have a chance to move to the third spot with victory against the reigning champions.

Gor Mahia are currently on 43 points from 19 matches, 10 more than second-placed Nairobi City Stars, while the law enforcers are lying sixth on 30 points. Gor Mahia coach Johnathan McKinstry is well aware of the task awaiting his side but he remained confident of doing the job in the away fixture.

“We are facing teams that have one motive, to beat us, they want to end our unbeaten run and it becomes tough for my players, but I have told them to stay focused, it is not easy to go 19 matches unbeaten, and we want to keep going and see what happens, we want to write history at the end of the season,” said McKinstry.

However, Police will provide a major threat to K’Ogalo as they have been in a good run of form since the exit of coach Zdravko Logarusic. Since losing 1-0 against Tusker on December 20, the law enforcers are in a run of three straight wins – 3-0 against Kakamega Homeboyz, 1-0 against Bidco United, and 2-0 against Nzoia Sugar. They have so far won eight matches, drawn six, and lost five.

During the first round meeting, Gor Mahia carried the day after defeating the law enforcers 1-0 courtesy of an Austin Odhiambo goal. K’Ogalo should be wary of the threats posed by their former striker Tito Okello, who has been on fire having found the back of the net in the last three matches.

In other matches set for tomorrow, coach Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno will face his former employers for the first time when Sofapaka takes on KCB, seeking to make it two wins out of two. Otieno joined Batoto ba Mungu on a permanent deal earlier in January, after he had left the Bankers on mutual agreement, and he has already overseen three matches – a 3-0 victory against Bidco United, 3-1 defeat against Tusker and the 1-0 win against Homeboyz.

Elsewhere, Tusker will be keen to bounce back to winning ways when they take on Bidco United. The Brewers saw their five-game winning run ended by K’Ogalo in a 1-0 defeat, and coach Robert Matano believes they have trained enough to return to winning ways.

“We used the short break to rectify some of our mistakes and I am happy the response was positive, we want to get to the winning mood again and we will strive to beat Bidco,” said Matano.

Struggling Homeboyz will be at home against Muhoroni Youth seeking to end their run of five matches without victories, Nzoia will come up against Posta Rangers while Sofapaka will be at home against KCB. On Sunday, AFC Leopards will come up against Kariobangi Sharks, Nairobi City Stars will host Shabana, Murang’a Seal will entertain Bandari and Ulinzi Stars will confront FC Talanta.