Nairobi City Stars' skipper Calvin Masawa has attributed the club’s recent rise in performance to defensive maturity.
Nairobi City Stars had conceded in all games between Match Day 2 and 12 but have since dropped that tag to shoot up to fifth place on the log.
They posted identical 1-0 wins over Posta Rangers, Bandari and Kakamega Homeboyz —in the last three games.
Simba wa Nairobi have conceded just twice in the last five games compared to 13 goals shipped in from the prior set of five games.
In sealing the backline, City Stars have managed to piece up five straight wins matching a rare record set in the 2020/21 Premier League season. The contiguous run adds up to another win to make it six triumphs in the last seven games.
“First, I thank God for this far he has brought us. It wasn’t particularly a good start because we lacked cohesion,” said Masawa, who is City Stars' longest-serving player having joined back in the year 2011.
“We conceded a lot of goals although we were scoring in each game. We had to go back to the drawing board and come up with defensive strategies.
"That’s why we concede fewer goals, and of course, if you don’t concede chances of winning matches are high and the results can testify. That has brought confidence in every player and to the entire team,” added Masawa.
City Stars started the season with a barren draw against Muhoroni Youth and had to wait until Match Day 13 to win 1-0 over the then-log-leader Posta Rangers, to register the second clean sheet.
Incidentally, that second clean sheet arrived when Masawa clocked his first full game since early June 2023 against Nzoia Sugar at Kasarani Annex.
He has gone on to clock full minutes in three games thereafter, against Bandari, Ulinzi Stars, and Kakamega Homeboyz to tally up 556 minutes this season in seven games.
