Nairobi — Seven points ahead at the summit of the FKF Premier League, many expect Gor Mahia to clinch their 22nd title in the 2025/26 season.
After all, in past seasons, Kenya's most successful club would by this stage of the league be doing a victory lap after mathematically securing the crown.
However, with arch-rivals AFC Leopards sitting second with 58 points, and with a game in hand, Gor Mahia head coach Charles Akonnor is not 'counting his chicks' just yet.
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The Ghanaian says complacency is a word that does not feature in his vocabulary as they prepare for the final three fixtures of the season.
"We need to be focused. We need to have an idea of how we play every match. Until the end of the season, the last match, we cannot be complacent, saying that we've won the league. We need to believe in ourselves and continue to do very good work. By the end of the season, we'll know. But we are in a very good position," the former Ghana national team boss said.
Equally important for Akonnor and Co is to keep a calm ahead and win all their remaining matches, even as his dugout rival, Fred Ambani, does the same with Ingwe.
"We don't need to panic. We don't need to put so much pressure on us. We are doing well and we'll continue to do well. In our next match, we'll look at what we have to do to improve the team," the former Wolfsburg captain noted.
K'Ogalo's latest encounter, against defending champions Kenya Police, made for a nail-biting experience for all affiliated with the 'Green Army.'
The Great Escape
A Brian Chonjo goal for the law enforcers in the first half evoked images and fears of K'Ogalo bottling a league crown they had virtually sewn up in the past few weeks.
Substitute Ebenezer Assifuah turned saviour in the 86th minute, firing from close range to ensure Gor maintain a considerable distance between them and Leopards.
Waxing lyrical about the team's mentality, Akonnor acknowledged that Gor would have lost the match on any other day.
"This is a good team. A team that, at times when things are very difficult, they manage to get out of it and get a goal. In situations like that, we could have gone home with a loss but we managed to get a goal. It's a good sign of a good team," he said.
He also praised his fellow Ghanaian - as well as Harambee Stars winger Ben Stanley Omondi - for their impact off the bench.
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"Each and every player comes in with an additional effort from what we've told them. Sometimes you can win matches from the bench. That is what they have, a mentality...and of course, players like Assifuah, Stanley, who came in, did a very good job for us," Akonnor pointed out.
Overall, Akonnor believes it was a game of two halves in which Police's compactness stifled their creativity in the middle of the park.
Despite their opponents settling in a low block in the second half, the gaffer was proud of how his players managed to pick Afande's defensive lock to find the breakthrough.
"We had a lot of ideas in which we would go in the second half. But, I must say, the opponent did very well. They were very deep in their box. They defended very well. And they didn't give us too much space in terms of how to operate. It made it difficult for us," he bemoaned.
It doesn't get any easier for Gor who face an equally tricky opponent in Murang'a Seal on Sunday.
The last encounter ended in a hard-fought 3-2 win for K'Ogalo who had to come back from two goals down to earn maximum points.
With a never-say-die attitude as was exhibited against Police, Akonnor will be relishing Sunday's duel with Seal - in what some bill as the 'Sportpesa Derby'.
It is the kind of match that goes to cement their claim to the title.
