Ulinzi Stars will be hoping to start their 2021-22 Football Kenya Federation Premier League campaign on a high when they host Nzoia Sugar in their opening match of the season at the A.S.K Grounds, Nakuru.This will be the 11th meeting between the two teams, with the other 10 meetings having been fairly contested as each team has won thrice and drawn four times.The Soldiers struggled in front of goal last season but they will be hoping that will be a thing of the past after acquiring the services of Nzoia’s forward Hillary Simiyu who had a good run in the second half of the season in the previous campaign, scoring eight goals.Despite losing some key players in Simiyu to Ulinzi, Gabriel Wandera to Bidco, Dennis Wanjala to Nairobi City Stars, and Elvis Ronack to Sofapaka, the Millers will be hoping for a good start as well having replaced those players with equally gifted young ones as they always do.Nzoia’s tactician Ibrahim Shikanda is upbeat ahead of the tie and is focused on the three points to start the season on a high.”A good start is what we are going for. We have tried to address our problems from last season and we are ready to go. The first game of the season is very important and we will go for a win here,” he said.Though the two teams have had a balanced contest, Nzoia’s last win in this encounter goes way back to 2019 and they will be hoping they can get back to winning ways against the Soldiers.With coach Benjamin Nyangweso away on military career progression duties, Sammy Simiyu will be in charge of Ulinzi as they seek to open the season with maximum points.Brian Birgen, one of the best performers last season has urged his teammates to put their best feet forward and collect maximum points as they seek to get it right in the first half of the season unlike the past campaign where they struggled to register back to back wins.”Last season we did not start well but we want to change that in the current season. We want to start on a high so that we do not have to play catch up with other teams. We want to get back to our real Ulinzi Stars and take the competition to teams,” said the defender.The match kicks off at 3 PM.
