Gor Mahia vice-captain Philemon Otieno has apologised tthe club's fans after suffering a humiliating 6-0 loss to CR Belouizdad in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the Caf Champions League played at the Stade du 5 Juillet 1962 on Saturday night.
K'Ogalo came into the match without the services of their influential captain Kenneth Muguna, midfielder Bernard Ondiek, and Nicholas Kipkirui. The first two were nursing injuries while the former Zoo FC man had family issues.
The Great Chabab scored their goals through Amir Sayoud, who scored a hat-trick, Hamza Bellahouel, Larbi Tabti, and Maecky Ngombo during a thoroughly one-sided encounter.
"On behalf of fellow players, l would like to apologise for the loss against Belouizdad," Otieno said as quoted by the club's official portal.
"It i’s football and we learnt our lessons."
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"It is a wake-up call for us to pull up if we want to achieve our goals for this season."
On Sunday, a senior player faulted the management for the big loss in North Africa.
"It is an embarrassing and shameful outcome for a big and respectable club like Gor Mahia," a senior player who is part of the squad in Algeria told Goal.
"This is a very competitive competition and it needs good preparations. It is a shame when we are just sent to play when nobody takes care of our needs.
"Nobody trained for this game, we were not fit for the game and the results were evident.
"We cannot get positive results this way, as players we are suffering. Someone might think we do not know how to play or we are not equal to the task but it is because of what is going on at the club.
"The office [management] is the main cause of this. I feel sorry for ourselves, fans and families."
K'Ogalo have a huge task of overturning the 6-0 loss in the second leg to make it to the group stage of the Caf Champions League.
The East African charges have never made it to the group stage of the competition.