Macharia: Tusker feel no pressure on top of the FKF league table

Tusker midfielder Jackson Macharia has dismissed claims they are under pressure sitting at the top of the 18-team FKF Premier League table.

The Brewers are leading the pack on 26 points from 11 matches, one more than second-placed KCB, while Wazito FC are third on 20 points.

After notching a late strike to sink Wazito in their last league outing, the dreadlocked midfielder has now said the team does not face any pressure being at the summit, but insisted they will have to keep working hard to maintain the results.

“Tusker is a big team and we are used to being on top,” Macharia told the club’s official website. “For us, there is no pressure at all being there and we just need to keep the consistency, we need to keep working hard from the training ground to the games.

“As a team, we work so hard in training and that is why you see the results translating on the pitch.”

Macharia was among the players who came on as a second-half substitute in the clash against Wazito, and reflecting on how his 93rd-minute goal helped them to claim maximum points, he said: “It felt great to give the team three points but the win was a collective effort from the coaches to the players.

“It has been long before I scored but I didn’t put it in my mind because that only works to bring you pressure. I knew I would score but I never knew the day or time but I am glad that I did.”

The league match played at Kasarani Annex was evenly contested until Tusker coach Robert Matano made three tactical changes at once, bringing on Macharia, Humphrey Mieno, and George Odhiambo for Chris Onyango, Otieno Apollo, and Boniface Muchiri.

And it was those changes that paid off as Macharia scored a stunning goal, seconds to the final whistle.

In a previous interview, Matano spoke of how his tactical changes enabled the Brewers to snatch the win, after Wazito proved a hard nut to crack in the first half.

“In the first half we did not play well, we did not keep the ball around ourselves, and our passing was not so frequent and we were lacking composure and then we came in and brought the players who can play that game to maintain the ball and then we can create chances to score and it happened as we got the goal at the final whistle,” Matano told Goal.

Tusker will next face struggling Posta Rangers on February 18.