Western Stima coach Salim Babu has backed 17-year-old Kisumu Day student Benson Ochieng to rise to a dreaded goal poacher in the near future.
Ochieng popularly known as Omalla opened his Western Stima account in Monday's 1-0 win over Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). He became one of the youngest players to score in the Kenya Premier League.
“This young lad will go far. He is the next Micheal Olunga or Dennis Oliech. He is a goal poacher who will go far. He is the next big thing because he is confident, powerful, can dribble and his shots are accurate,” said Babu.
Ochieng who was part of the Rising Stars team which lost 1-0 to Tanzania in the recently held Cecafa U-20 championships made his debut during a 3-1 win over Bandari. He also played in the team's 2-0 loss against Kakamega Homeboyz.
“This is a young player and we want his growth to be gradual that is why in the first game, I gave him 10 minutes, in the second game, he played for 20 minutes. On Monday, he also had 20 minutes on the pitch and scored. I'm happy for him because he is the answer to our striking problems,” said Babu.
“In the next game, I want to give him 30 minutes. Our established strikers should be worried because, by the second leg, Ochieng will be ready to start games,” added Babu.
Ochieng led Kisumu Day to national secondary school games this year where they were eliminated in the first round.
Babu, a KPL winner with Sony Sugar in 2006 maintained that his target in the league is to finish top 8 with 30 points. The power men are currently 8th with 17 points from 10 games.
“We lost against Homeboyz and drew with Tusker in our last two outings. I'm happy we have now returned to winning ways which is good for the boys because they have been playing very well. They are motivated because we are separated by one point from the second-placed team,” noted the coach.
On Saturday,Stima be at home against Francis Baraza's Sofapaka and coach Babu says his charges will go for maximum points.
