KCB’s 2020/2021 Football Kenya Federation Premier League defender of the year nominee Nahashon Alembi has reiterated his desire to follow in the footsteps of former Gor Mahia defender Joash Onyango who shot to fame after bagging the 2018/2019 defender of the year as well as the Most Valuable Player in the league.After bagging the prestigious awards in Gor Mahia’s title winning season back then, Joash completed his move to Tanzanian side Simba FC where he has continued to rake in raving reviews both in the Tanzanian Ligi Kuu Bara and in the continental CAF Champions League.Joash Onyango wins the MVP Award. He was at the heart of Gor’s defence leading them to their first ever quarter final bearth in the #CAFCC and to the KPL title 18/19 season. He also played an integral part in Kenya’s win over Ghana. Well deserved 👏🏾👏🏾.#LGSJAKAwards #GameIbambe— Elijah Ouko (@elijah_ouko) August 19, 2019 After marshaling his side to the meanest conceding team in the entire 2020/2021 campaign having let in 23 goals in thirty two games, Alembi was shortlisted in a six man list of nominees for the defender of the year who would follow after Joash as last season’s awards were not issued due to the corona enforced suspension of the league.Speaking ahead of the awards that are set to take place on Tuesday September 14 at Safari Park Hotel, the defender who has gone on to collect senior call ups to the Harambee Stars national team, referred to the nomination as a ‘privilege’ as he revealed how Joash acted as a motivation to him.“Being nominated as defender of the year in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League is a very big privilege to me. I have been watching other defenders win the award, like Joash Onyango who won the defender of the year as well as the Most Valuable Player. Seeing things like that served as motivation to me because it pushed him an extra mile and opened up opportunities for him. I hope in future it will open doors for me the same way it did to him,” the player says in an interview by Football Kenya Federation.2️⃣ days to #FKFPLAwards pic.twitter.com/oDrpPE0oVx— Football Kenya Federation (@Football_Kenya) September 11, 2021 Alembi also expressed his delight at the season that saw the Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno coached side finish in second place only three points behind champions Tusker.“The season was perfect apart from not achieving our target of winning the league. Nonetheless, we got recognition among the best defenders and our goalkeeper finished the season with the second most cleansheets, which were some of our targets,” he said.On Tuesday, Alembi will be battling against Eugene Asike (Tusker), Bolton Omwenga (former Nairobi City Stars), David Kalama (Bidco United), Johnstone Omurwa (Wazito), Sylvester Owino (Kakamega Homeboyz) and Daniel Sakari(currently at Tusker)🎖| Defender of the year nominees are in!Who gets your vote for the 2020/2021 defender of the year?📸 @Officialfkfpl #FKFPL pic.twitter.com/OohfhczWPf— Mozzart Sport Kenya (@MozzartSportKe) September 1, 2021
