Gor Mahia coach Dylan Kerr: No one should ever be critical of Boniface Oluoch

Gor Mahia coach Dylan Kerr has asked fans to lay off keeper Boniface Oluoch after his blunders helped Yanga to get two goals on Sunday.

The Harambee Stars keeper was at fault twice as Yanga threatened to pull a draw against the Kenyan champions in a Caf Confederation Cup Group D match played at National Stadium in Tanzania.

Gor Mahia however, held on to force a 3-2 win and keep their hopes of qualifying to the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time in history. The Briton coach has however, disagreed with some of the fans, who are openly criticizing keeper Oluoch for the howlers.

“No one should ever be critical of my keeper especially if you see how many goals he saves to those he makes a mistake. When he made an amazing save against AFC Leopards at 1-1 where were the plaudits?

“None...but when he makes an error of judgment fans want to lynch him,” Kerr told Goal.

“Had we lost, then yes, that would have been a disaster but we didn’t and we will fix it. He made a mistake…but what about the twelve missed chances we had, seven in the first half and five in the second half?"

Kerr also believes that Gor Mahia deserved to win by seven goals in the return leg match. “We played very fantastic football in the first half and should have scored seven good chances. At the second half, we killed our tempo and from two mistakes we conceded but the first goal was from offside and the keeper needed to do better.

“The tempo we played in the first half was amazing but the final pass or decision didn’t help us. My players should always learn to concentrate but how we play sometime tiredness helps create mistakes."

Kerr added, “I am very proud of the attitudes for 80% of the game and we dug in to make sure we came away with the points. I will analyze the game and will put right what needs to be done but also encourage that display because at times it was awesome.”

K’Ogalo scored through George Odhiambo, Jacques Tuyisenge and captain Harun Shakava to take their points tally in the Group to eight.