Twenty-times Kenya Premier League champions Gor Mahia were on Saturday afternoon crowned the new 2023 FKF Charity Cup champions after outlasting Kakamega Homeboyz on post-match penalties (4-2) after settling for a 1-1 draw in regular time.
After converting the first three penalties, the onus was on Lyson Muyonga to score a winner with the game’s fourth penalty, and that he did, stroking home to seal the deal after Robinson Kamura and Stephen Opoku had seen their spot kicks saved.
Boniface Omondi had given K’Ogalo the lead in the 60th minute of the game before Eric Ambunya settled matters with a quarter of the game left, sending the game into penalties.
And so after close to two months following the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, where these sides culminated their terms with new pieces of hardware, competitive football was back, and in the name of the FKF Charity Cup.
You’d be forgiven to think that both teams hadn’t taken a break from football, as they settled in straight out of the gates and with Go looking like the more threatening side in this recently fierce encounter.
The new faces, especially in the K’Ogalo side looked locked in, and so was a Kakamega Homeboyz side that was fresh from a friendly victory over Muhoroni Youth in the last week.
It took an awful lot of time for the first chance at goal, as Lawrence Juma who, was marking the start of his second stint with Gor hit his long-range shot straight at Farouk Shikhalo in the 19th minute.
Another similar chance befell Austin Odhiambo five minutes later, but the former AFC Leopards man could only flash his shot from the right wide, with a ball to a lurking Benson Omala looking like the best option then.
Caleb Otieno, who was having a fairly easy afternoon, was suddenly sprung into action in the last half of the first period, with his first crucial intervention coming outside his box as he raced on to cut a long ball intended for Kevin Amwayi.
Homeboyz, were looking brave with every minute, and latched to every miscalculated Gor passes, with the closest chance being a Moses Shummah shot that tricked off the keeper’s left post.
As both sides headed to the halftime break, it would be fair to say neither side had broken into second gear.
Whatever way you look at it, the match here was more of a friendly fire, with either managers going for twin substitutions to get the second half underway.
Kelvin Simiyu and Alpha Onyango were the new entrants on the field for K’Ogalo as Alex Imbusia and Davis Kasirye made their way in for the visitors.
From what was a slow start here, things got heated just after the half-hour mark as Muyonga, the man who came in place of Omala in the 59th minute ,slashed his shot wide after successfully negotiating past Kamura.
Gor were at it again as Onyango forced Shikhalo into a fingertip save, forcing a corner inside the 60th minute.
It was Alpha who took it, and in a move seemingly off the training ground, whipped the ball across to Omondi who rifled a right foot shot past Shikhalo albeit via a deflection.
The fans had finally got what they wanted, with celebrations from a few section of the stadium present going on for a while before a moment of silence.
In bizarre circumstances, Homeboyz found themselves level with just a quarter of the game remaining as Otieno in goal, failed to deal with a tame freekick from Eston Esiye, laying the ball on a platter for Ambunya to knock home.
1-1 it was with fifteen minutes to go in the game, and just like they did to close out the first half, Homeboyz upped the ante, carving up opportunities from Kasirye and Mudavadi that went agonizingly wide.
Ninety minutes after all, didn’t seem enough to separate the two sides, paving way for some torture.
