Ghanaian Charles Akonnor started his reign as the head coach of Kenyan Premier League record champions Gor Mahia on a sour note after his side suffered a 1-0 defeat against bogey side Bidco United in their opening fixture of the season at Kasarani Stadium on Sunday.
The 51-year-old took over the vacant role on August 1st replacing the fired Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno, and Michael Nam, and was immediately tasked to prepare the team for the new campaign with eyes on wrestling the Premier League title from Kenya Police FC.
However, his first league match in charge of the team, produced one of the shocking results in the opening weekend of the top-flight. Before Gor Mahia had taken to the pitch, Tusker, who finished fourth last season, had lost 2-0 against KCB, while rivals AFC Leopards had dropped points in a 1-1 draw against Sofapaka.
With champions Police’s fixture postponed owing to their involvement in the CAF Champions League campaign where they defeated Mogadishu City 3-1 in the first leg of the first preliminary round at Nyayo Stadium on Saturday, Gor Mahia knew a positive result would set them up to a superb 2025-26 season.
However, they came up against a Bidco United side who had other ideas. The Thika-based outfit frustrated Gor Mahia with top class defending, fighting for every ball, and despite K’Ogalo’s dominance in ball possession, the result stayed 0-0 at the half-time break.
Bidco kept their game plan in the second period, sitting back and attacking Gor Mahia on counter attacks. After all the missed opportunities by K’Ogalo, Bidco needed one chance to take home maximum points.
In the 86th minute, Gor Mahia conceded a penalty after a clumsy foul inside the box. Newton stepped up to calmly convert from the spot, silencing the Gor Mahia crowd that had packed Kasarani. Last season, Bidco beat Gor Mahia 1-0 in their first meeting, before the reverse fixture ended in a 0-0 draw.
Gor Mahia need to have a little bit of composure
According to Akonnor, who is a former midfielder, and spent most of his club career in Germany, the record Kenyan champions were punished because of being poor in the final third.
“It is unfortunate we dominated 70% of the game but we were unable to unlock their (Bidco) defence, or make the chances that we created count, and that was our main problem,” Akonnor, who made 51 appearances for Ghana national team Black Stars scoring 13 goals, told Flashscore.
“The general assessment was positive, in terms of how we controlled the game, what we lacked was the opportunity to score goals, when you play a game of football and you don’t create chances it is a big problem, but in our case, we're able to create chances but not able to use them.
“We lacked the moment of magic of putting the ball into the net. We need to have a little bit of composure, in the final third and make sure we do our best to use what we have created.“
Akonnor, who started his career with colts club Young Hearts located in Tema in 1985, continued: “The only time the opponent came into the game is when we gave the ball away casually in the midfield, but the rest of the game, my players did very well.
“In the first half, we didn’t have mobility upfront, but the outcome remains, we lost the game, and we must quickly shift focus onto the next fixture, because it is a must win game for us now.”
On whether he will be forced to change his style of play following the defeat, Akonnor responded: “We will not, we don't have to. We will continue to keep our style of play, because we did everything right but what we lacked was the composure in the final third, the final third was lacking, and it is something we must work on, so that we can improve and get the results.”
Gor Mahia will return to action with matchday two fixture against Sofapaka on Saturday.
