Former Gor Mahia and current Gambia coach Johnathan McKinstry.

Gambia coach Johnathan McKinstry admits his knowledge of Kenyan players from his Gor Mahia days helped him conquer Harambee Stars.

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‎The Gambia coach Johnathan McKinstry has opened up about how his inside knowledge on Kenyan players proved pivotal in their win on Friday.

‎Harambee Stars felt the sting from the Scorpions, who won the 2026 World Cup qualifier 3-1, at Kasarani Stadium with all their goals scored in the opening 38 minutes.

‎The Gambia forced mistakes from Benni McCarthy’s men and ruthlessly punished them with Ryan Ogam’s late goal not enough to save the hosts the blushes.

‎McKinstry says his job was made easier by the fact that he knows most of the players, some who he worked with at Gor Mahia, while others he came up against when he led K’Ogalo to back-to-back league titles from 2022-2024.

‎”We knew but we did not want to mention it [because] sometimes the psychology can get into it. I do not think we were on the training pitch for an hour and more than 10 minutes. Even yesterday (Thursday) we did not spend over 40 minutes, we knew we had to stock up the energy,” McKinstry said in his post-match interview.

‎”We have a very talented bench, these are guys who play in Europa and Champions League and we can go into a match confident.

‎”The other thing that is unique in this game and especially because the team is more home-based, more domestic now for Harambee Stars. Any of the domestic players I know exactly what they are going to do when they come on,” he further revealed.

‎The Northern Irishman then elaborated how he found it easy to destroy McCarthy’s game plan given how well he knows the Kenyan players.

‎”I know how Ogam plays, how Sylvester Owino, (Alpha) Onyango and Abud (Omar) play. That is just a one-off advantage,” McKinstry further said.

‎”Even when Alpha was coming on, we know he is going to have those diagonal passes and if someone presses, he will drive two or three metres. I know these things because I helped them get to this level.”

‎The defeat handed McCarthy a reality check although he insisted the squad selected was the most suitable as he could not take the risk of playing many local-based players in an international match even after their impressive performance at the CHAN 2024 tournament.

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