*Undated
Gor Mahia suffered a 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their playoff tie in the Caf Confederation Cup away to Otoho d'Oyo on Sunday November 29th.
After a goalless first half, Roland Okouri scored in the second half at Alphonse Massamba-Debat Stadium in Brazzaville to hand the Congolese side a first-leg advantage.
It was not going to be an easy outing for the Kenyan heavyweights, who had to do with just 15 players in the squad.
Frank Odhiambo, John Nyawir, and Alpha Onyango were the inexperienced faces in continental matches who were forced to start owing to the lack of options available. But it seemed they were ready for the task, as they managed to keep the hosts from getting the ball into the back of the net in the first half.
However, things changed after the half-time break, as the hosts intensified their attacks in search of the crucial goal.
But they still struggled to find a way past the Kenyans. That changed in the 63rd minute when Okouri crept into the danger zone unmarked and beat Gad Mathews in the K'Ogalo net to score the only goal of the match.
With 10 minutes to go, the seemingly fatigued visitors almost conceded another goal, but this time around, substitute Chandrel Massanga missed the target by inches with the goalkeeper well beaten.
The Congolese side will now carry a slim lead into the second leg scheduled in Nairobi on December 5 at Nyayo Stadium. The aggregate winner will advance to the group stage of the annual competition.
The fate of the return clash in Nairobi still hangs in the balance after the chief executive officer of the ousted Football Kenya Federation, Barry Otieno, wrote to Caf on Tuesday saying the decision by the government to appoint a caretaker committee had made it difficult for them to organise the event.
Gor rode to the final round of the preliminary stage on the back of a walkover after Sudanese side Al Ahli Merowe failed to arrive in Kenya on Sunday for the second leg of the penultimate round.
They had a two-goal advantage heading into the match after registering an emphatic 3-1 victory over their opponents at the New Suez Stadium in Egypt a week ago.