After weeks of near misses and heartbreaks, Nairobi City Stars finally managed to win a match in the 2024/2025 Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL).
The Nicholas Muyoti-coached side came from behind to register a 2-1 victory over heavyweights Gor Mahia in a match played at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on Monday evening.
Two second half goals from Dennis Oalo and Robinson Asenwa cancelled Levin Odhiambo’s 23rd-minute strike and ensured City Stars picked the maximum points after a five-match winless run (D2 L3).
Speaking after the morale-boosting display, a delighted City Stars coach Nicholas Muyoti appreciated the effort his charges put on the field
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“I would like to thank my boys for the win. We have had a very bad start and have been unlucky in most of the matches, but I am happy we were lucky against Gor. It was a tough game, but from the word go we stuck to our strategy,” he told SportPesa Blog.
When asked what message he gave the players during the half time break that enabled them to change the outcome of the game, Muyoti mentioned how he advised his wingers to use the mistake that the Gor Mahia fullbacks were making to their advantage.
“I told them we are not doing badly as a team. We just conceded a goal, but we were not doing badly. We realized the Gor Mahia fullbacks were going up and we told our offensive players not to track them.
So that if we get them on the counter, we can hit and try to create our chances. I think it worked very well because Mohamed stayed up, Asenwa stayed up, and we managed to get those balls and converted the chances,” explained Muyoti.
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The former Kenyan captain further divulged that dominating the midfield was another key tactic that led to the win.
According to Muyoti, preventing the defending champions from having a field day in the centre of the pitch made it much easier for his side.
“I think this is an area (midfield) Gor Mahia is very strong and we had to make sure they are not playing. In the first half, you could realize we managed to lock them out because they were trying to use long balls.
It played to our advantage because our defense could deal very well with the high balls. I was very happy about how our midfield behaved and they are part of why we won the game,” he stated.
Muyoti added that he hopes the win will help inspire his side, which currently sits at position 14 in the table with five points after six matches, to do well in the upcoming fixtures.
Gor Mahia vs City Stars
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