By Ken Andrew
Thumbnail Photo Courtesy Instagram/Daystarcity: Poster for the weekend derby.
The final weekend of what has been a long season in the Kenya University Sports Association (KUSA) league is set to take place at Daystar University Athi River Campus on July 24.
The final four matches will be hosted at the Bethel Grounds, which serves as the home ground for Daystar Falcons. The Falcons play their Football Kenya Federation (FKF) league home matches at the ground and will have home turf advantage- they understand the topography of the pitch and their fans will be close by.
They will have two matches in the KUSA League at their home venue. The first one will be a Daystar Derby in which they will be seeking to avenge their loss from the first leg of the season against the Daystar University Valley Road campus team, Daystar City. The match will be played on Saturday the 24th of July at 9.00 am before they take on Kenyatta University Town Campus the next day.
Having home advantage, the Falcons are expected to try everything to deliver positive results over the two games but their opponents will not be walkovers. Daystar City will be looking to pick up their third win of the season and complete the league double over the Falcons in what will be their final match of the season. In the first Daystar Derby of the season, a Prince Kofi second-half hat trick helped City achieve a comeback win over the Falcons. The striker will be looking to add to his goal tally this weekend. City goalkeeper Richie Ekhalie will be looking for a start in the Derby this season after missing the first leg due to injury. The long-time City custodian will be keen to produce a superb performance in keeping the Falcons’ forwards at bay.
The Falcons will be heading into the derby without utility player Lenteipa Learamo, who got injured during an FKF League match. The versatile player has featured in forward positions and even at center back for the Falcons this season. This was his first season with the Falcons. When asked about his assessment of the season, the player was positive and hopeful in his reply
“My first season with the Falcons was really great. I really enjoyed my time traveling and doing what I love most,” he said. “Sadly, my dislocated ankle and fractured fibula means that I will be out till next season. This being my first injury, it took some time to accept it. I learnt that this is something that can happen to all athletes thus one should cherish every chance they get to play and not take it for granted. I cannot wait to be back honestly. Turning setbacks into comebacks.”
The player will hopefully make a proper comeback next season.
Alongside Lenteipa, Collins Orina also had a great debut season with the Falcons. The midfield maestro has played in a majority of the Falcons’ games as a starter.
“Actually, this is my first season in Falcons. So far, it has been a wonderful experience. The senior players received me well when I joined the team and that helped me settle easily. I cannot wait to learn more from them. I am happy to be at Falcons. Next season, I want to help the team achieve its goal and also achieve my personal goals,” he said when asked about his season and what the future holds.
The last Derby of this season is set to be a banger with both teams wanting to win. Caiseyann Munee, the Daystar City Team Manager is hopeful that the City team will continue to grow after learning a lot this season.
“I think Daystar City will play a clean game and that we will go and have fun and do our best. I am certain we are going to push ourselves but bottom line, we are going to grow and learn a lot from the game on Saturday and as we conclude this season we are definitely going to have leveled up as compared to how we were when we started the league,” she said.
She also gave her thoughts on the KUSA League being held at the Bethel Grounds in Athi River: “Personally, I think the league being held in Athi is quite odd considering the fact that we are playing against people we go to school with but I also feel like us playing in Athi will expose us to a new ground which some of our players have never played on and we, again as City, are here to grow so we are going to learn something new and grow and better ourselves for next season.”
The students of Daystar are sure to have some quality games available for them to watch this weekend. The Derby will be headlining the fixtures. Who will come out on top? be at Bethel Grounds on Saturday the 24th of July to find out.
KUSA LEAGUE WEEKENDS FIXTURES AT BETHEL GROUNDS
Saturday 24th July 2021
Daystar City vs. Daystar Falcons 9.00 am
MKU (W) vs. KU (W) 11.00 am
Sunday 25th July 2021
KU Nairobi vs. Daystar Falcons 9.00 am
KU vs. MKU 11.00 am
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