Gor Mahia head coach issues two reasons for losing to Tusker
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Reading Time: 3min | Wed. 15.04.26. | 11:21
The loss left K'Ogalo just two points ahead of AFC Leopards with seven matches remaining
Gor Mahia head coach Charles Akonnor has decried the officiating and state of the playing surface at Wang'uru International Stadium for his team’s 1-0 loss to Tusker on Tuesday, 14 April, but remains hopeful K’Ogalo will still be crowned league champions at the end of the season.
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Akonnor, speaking at the end of the rescheduled league match, was critical of a wide range of issues that prevented his side from extending their lead at the top of the standings, but still maintained that he was not making excuses for Gor Mahia’s first league loss in 2026.
“I don’t want to complain, but why this game was brought here I don’t know,” the Ghanaian manager told Azam TV post-match. “The field of play was bad; it's been difficult to come here and play, that was not us.”
Poised to be a game where Gor Mahia would have put some distance between them and second-placed AFC Leopards to five points, Akonnor’s side stumbled to a 16th-minute goal from Ibrahim Joshua, effectively blowing the title race wide open.
On how his team’s style of play was affected by the surface at the Kirinyaga facility, the 52-year-old said: “We tried to manage it, we were able to create chances, had chances to score, and of course, I think we had a penalty which was unfairly refused to be given to us.”
The said incident came in the 39th minute, when Gor Mahia winger Patrick Essombe was seemingly brought down inside the box by defender Servyl Akouala, only for referee Edwin Bobiya to wave play on.
Penalty or no Penalty? pic.twitter.com/ChnIyPyfiA
— Don Teya (@TeyaKev) April 14, 2026
Reviewing the sequence of play on a screen, Akonnor said: “He [Essombe] has the ball, he is ahead of the defender, and is still in control. Of course, this is a clear penalty.
A clear one. But the referee unfortunately saw it differently. I don't know what to say, we have lost, we go back home and prepare for our next match.”
Having initially said he was not in the mood to make excuses, Akonnor again poked holes into the federation’s decision to have the game played at Wang’uru, saying the field was not healthy for both sets of players.
“How this match was organised and how it came about that we played here, not just for my team but for the opponents as well, they need to have a good field to play football,” the former Black Stars coach said.
“The field is so bumpy, you can twist your leg, and it is not healthy for the boys.”
The loss notwithstanding, Akonnor maintained that K’Ogalo were still front-runners to win the league title.
“We are two points ahead, and if the league is over today, we have won,” he said. “We are still very hopeful and still believe we have done so much. This year, this is our first loss, so we have done very well. We will continue with the momentum and try to get a better result.”
