Shikanda dreams top ten Nzoia finish

Nzoia Sugar FC head coach Ibrahim Shikanda is a man on a mission. The former Bandari assistant coach might just have been roped in on the 6th of January this year to take over the reins at the sugar millers but believes his side can achieve a top ten finish in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) come the end of the season.

Since taking over, Shikanda has overseen ten games at Nzoia; four wins, three defeats and three draws. In fact, Nzoia’s first win of the 2020/2021 campaign came under his watch, a 2-1 win over Sofapaka in his second match in charge. By the time the league was suspended following a decree by the president to suspend among others all sporting activities in the country, Nzoia were on a three match unbeaten streak.         

And in an interview on the league’s social media pages, the gaffer has revealed the impact the halt has had on the team as well as his team’s progress so far since he took over.

“I really feel privileged, but the work is not yet done for us. I have been impressed with the performance of the team and by the time the FKFPL was stopping, we had really gone up well. The break has taken us a few steps behind because we had started picking really well and the momentum was swinging in. But I am hopeful that football will be allowed back soon for us to get back to the pitch,” the head coach states.

With the league projected to resume after vaccination of all players, Shikanda went on to set a bold target for his new side- a top 10 league finish- a feat they have not been able to achieve since the 2017 campaign that saw Nzoia finish in ninth place.

“When the league is back, my expectation is that we continue performing well. We are targeting to finish the season in the top 10,” he remarked.

In the halted 20/21 FKFPL season, Shikanda’s Nzoia Sugar is currently in 12th position on nineteen points. With that position, the target does not look to far off, does it?