By Austin Oduor,

My records show that mighty Kogalo has never won at the Sony Sugar owned Awendo Green Stadium,At the stadium, you are able to view the ever busy Awendo town,which is  just a 15 minutes drive from the County Headquarters,Migori.
For the Kogallo lovers who would love to visit neighboring Tanzania, the Town is just 22 kilometers from the border town of Sirari where you can go pick your Simba and Yanga Jerseys and carry along when you get back to the Capital, Nairobi.

The Awendo Green Stadium has been a difficult hunting ground for mighty Gor Mahia and the only ‘win ‘ Gor had was the abandoned 2-2 draw match which the IDAC awarded Gor. However today evening, when centre referee Moses Osano and his two assistants John Alando and Erick Dadera may need the services of Reserve referee Amost Ichingwa for consultancy purposes.

The last time the two teams met, Gor had an edge over them winning  0-1  but that was at Nakuru’s Afraha stadium and not Awendo .

Sony Sugar, often referred to as Gor B with followers from adjacent areas like Ranen, Rongo, Kakrao, Uriri, Migori, Sori, Sirari and parts of Homabay have a crop of true fans who will treat the crowd to their best, they will encounter the Green Army, arguably with the most passionate fans after the Yanga and Simba fans in the region.

Statistics are not in Gor Mahia’s favour. Sony are ahead in matters statistics.

Statistics are not in Gor Mahia’s favour. Sony are ahead in matters statistics. Records from  1999 shows that Kogallo have not picked maximum points in Awendo. The records show that Sony have hosted Gor Mahia 11 times since 1999 in the league matches and 10 times in Awendo Green Stadium. Sony managed to collect maximum points 5 times with the rest draws except for the loss at Afraha (second home).

In the 1999  League, Sony drew 0-0 on Feb 27th Round 4, No records for the 2000 League but Gor Mahia lost 1-0 in 2001 Round of 15 in June 9th. The following year in 2002, Sony beat Gor Mahia 1-0.  The two teams however did not meet in 2004 as they were in different Zones of the parallel league of KFF and KPFG.  2005 saw a unified league formed after the league was split to Groups A and B of which the two teams were apart.

Sony Sugar were champions in 2006, a fete that no team in greater Nyanza has achieved.Sony won the league with 75 points,a point ahead of Tusker, It is that year January 21st that Sony held Gor Mahia 1-1 in Awendo.

In 2008 and 2009, the year that the KPL was born and the smooth running of the top tier begun, Sony registered subsequent victories over Gor Mahia winning 1-0 and 2-1 in  Round 22 and and 24 respectively. Both games were played in September. Of the said years.In the year 2010,Round 4 of the KPL,March  13 th at the Green Stadium-Awendo. Francis Ochola put Gor Mahia ahead in the 50th minute and it was the song and dance at the stadium by Sony supporters who had outnumbered the Gor Mahia ones that engineered Sony to equalize in the 71st minute courtesy of Fredrick ‘uche’ Onyango currently in Tusker, I witnessed the match.

In 2011Round of 13,Sony edged past Gor 1-0 and the following year in the round of 7, March 25th the two teams battled to a goalless draw at Awendo.

2013 saw Gor Mahia crowned Champions after 18 years in waiting but still had to harvest only a point from the sugar millers drawing 0-0 in the Round of 7 game in March 25th.  The 2013 march however experienced act of hooliganism when the march was stopped in the 88th meeting when Gor Mahia equalized to make the scores 2-2. The march was later awarded to Gor on a 2-0 basis by IDAC.
The subsequent match the following year was then moved to Afraha by the league body which Gor Mahia confidently won 1-0.

Focus now shifts today when star studded Gor Mahia, who are so far unbeaten in the league and boasts of the most lethal striking force with both players in good form and hungry for goals.
the defense line of Gor is perfect and the striking trio of Michael Olunga and Meddie Kagere will prove their worth when they will test the leaking defense of a Sony Sugar team that soaked in 5 goals just  a week ago to out of form AFC Leopards.
It  is upto Coach Zedekiah Otieno to  choose from last year Goalkeeper of the year Jairus Adira or the shocked out of fans favour Lucas Indeche to start.
This is the Nyanza derby and Gor Mahia are hot favourites to break the long awaited jinx and get 3 points at the DIFFICULT AWENDO STADIUM

Slickrambo