Zakayo 'enjoying learning under experienced players at Tusker'

Tusker winger Eric Zakayo has explained his happiness of working under experienced players as the team strives to achieve their target of winning the FKF Premier League title this campaign.

The young winger is among the players who were promoted to the Brewers’ senior team from the junior side and his superb display after coming off the bench against Nzoia Sugar caught the eyes of the team’s technical bench and the fans.

With Tusker trailing 1-0 against the Sugar Millers, Zakayo came on and played the key pass that led to the team’s equaliser by Jackson Macharia before floating in a cross that was headed in by Henry Meja to help the Brewers’ pick up maximum points.

Zakayo has since admitted he is happy to be learning under the wings of experienced players at the club and promised to help the club whenever he is called upon.

“The senior players not only offer competition in the team but are also present an opportunity to learn,” Zakayo told the club’s official website.

“They are always there to share their advice and every day I am learning from them, I take positives a lot and that is a motivation for me to keep working hard. Being behind foreign players should not be a discouragement you will not play but rather a motivation to keep working.

“The biggest lesson I have learnt is being humble and discipline, that’s the only thing that can take you far and give you success in football.”

On his contribution to beat Nzoia Sugar, Zakayo explained: “I really feel happy to have come in to help the team. I thank the coach for trusting me and one thing he usually tells us is we should always be ready when needed. I have always been patient and anytime a chance comes, I take it with both hands.

“My target is to keep playing more frequently and I will show from training and hopefully score or assist more to help the team.”

The win, a seventh straight for the title-chasing side, saw them stretch their lead at the top of the 18-team table to seven points, but according to coach Robert Matano, his players must stay focused and forget about getting excited if they are to win the title.

“This victory is now gone and we forget about it,” Matano told the club’s official website in a previous interview. “There is no need to be excited, we cannot talk about it now.

“Our focus is on the game against Bidco United on Saturday and we need to continue being consistent, it is still very early in the league and still tough, but we have to keep working hard and deliver results.”

On the game against Nzoia, Matano said: “It was a very tough game for us. We know that Nzoia is a strong team with very good running players and they have a lot of energy. We also knew that after beating KCB, they would come strongly and were ready for us.

“The first half was tough because they play very well in their half, but in the second half, we knew they would be tired and we made tactical substitutions that suited our game plan in the final minutes and I am happy we got a win.”