Talanta's Maliachi wary of relegation threat ahead of Muhoroni trip

FC Talanta have, for a better part of the 2023/24 FKF Premier League season, just lingered around the mid-table; occasionally flirting with the relegation trio at the bottom.

The final three matches of the season however, find the Nairobi side just two points ahead of Shabana, who occupy the relegation play-off position.

Needless to say, it is not a comfortable position to find oneself at this stage in the league.

Full-back Kevin Maliachi, having missed a huge chunk of this season’s action due to a pre-season injury, has returned to action for the side is one of the signals for hope for the side.

He, however, rues the plenty of matches he inevitably missed.

“Injuries do happen and just like mine, no one anticipated and this really did dampen my spirit a little. When you come into a team as a new player the one thing you want first is to cement a starting place and I was well on course to doing just that when the tragedy struck,’’ he says.

The utility back-line player, shipped in from Nzoia’s stellar 2022/23 squad at the end of last season to replace Alvin Ochieng who departed to Gor Mahia, sprained his ankle while in action for his new employers in their annual Kenya Communications Sports Organisation (KECOSO) pre-season tournament hosted in Narok and now given a clean bill of health, intends to throw everything he has to see Talanta stay up.

He says he owes the team that much.

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“The three remaining fixtures mean a lot to the team. Personally, I feel I owe the team a lot after they took care of me during the injury spell. We are playing well at the moment, the last loss to KCB was a bad day in office and we will be out to rectify that when the league resumes,’’ he continues.

Talanta went down 2-0 to the bankers, who themselves haven’t had a great season but had labored to a tough one-all draw away to Shabana FC - another relegation-threatened side.

They have another dicey-looking away trip to Muhoroni Youth.

A loss here could elevate their opponents on the day to level points with Talanta, but they are not taking that chance.

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“We understand the magnitude of the remaining contest so whether playing at home or away, we have vowed to not drop points. Muhoroni will be tough as always but we’ll go there prepared,’’ he adds.

The lengthy international break has seen a few teams take a break from the normal training but not Talanta.

The side has been up and about the country playing lower tier sides in a bid to find their scoring boots. Their recent outing was in Ahero, Kisumu county.

After Muhoroni, Maliachi and his comrades will be entertained by champions elect Gor Mahia before signing off the season with a home engagement with Bandari FC on the 23rd.

With Nzoia Sugar already relegated, the battle for survival between Talanta, Sofapaka, Shabana and Muhoroni Youth will largely be determined by the next two rounds.