With two games to go in the 2022-23 Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League season, Nairobi City Stars flyer Samuel Kapen is already looking forward to the next one that will tentatively kick off on August 26.
Kapen, in his first full premiership season, has taken stock of his own performance and believes it could have been better. Even then, Kapen is now looking forward to a much-improved 2023-24 season.
“It’s been a good season. We started off poorly but steadily worked our way up and peaked in the second leg,” said Kapen, who has had stints at Digunna, Liberty Sports, Posta Rangers, and Kibera Black Stars.
He added: “Individually, it has been a good season for me even though I never attained my personal targets. I hope next season will be better than this season.”
Kapen has led Simba wa Nairobi’s lines this season and has gone on to score seven goals and provided two assists.
He has featured in 27 out of 32 games, clocking 2,199 minutes.
At the same time, lead keeper Steve Njunge has attributed completing 50 Premier League games to hard work.
He played his 50th Kenyan top-flight game on June 3 during a Match Day 32 against Nzoia Sugar at Kasarani Annex.
Up until that game, Njunge had tended to goal 49 times for Simba wa Nairobi across the last three Premier League seasons.
In hitting the rare milestone, Njunge said; “I give thanks for reaching the magical 50. It has not been easy and I attribute it all to hard work. I also wish to thank my coaches for believing and giving me the chance to feature for the club across the last three seasons.”
“The milestone aside, I want to stay focused and post new highs with the club,” added Njunge. The Nzoia game was the 13th for Njunge this season who has so far clocked 1,095 minutes.
The current number of games is an improvement from the four he earned from an injury-hit last season. In the 2020-21 Premier League season, Njunge clocked all minutes available after featuring in all 33 games. He registered eleven clean sheets to be named the joint runners-up keeper of that season.
