Opiyo revels after keeping first clean sheet

Conceding a goal in the final minute of a game and seeing your team lose all the three points is never an easy feeling, especially when you are the one in goal making your maiden debut for your new side. Questions throng your mind. Endless questions. Why do bad things happen to good people? You even wonder.

As if that’s not enough already, you concede an own goal in your second game. A game that you had an early 1-0 lead ends in a frustrating 1-1 draw. Two games played zero clean sheets. You continue wondering. But you opt to believe in yourself.

Opiyo and his team mates confront one another after going down to Tusker

That is the situation that befell new Wazito goalkeeper Levis Opiyo, who joined the team during the just-closed mid-season transfer window from defending champions Gor Mahia.

Opiyo slotted straight into the first eleven just three days after completing his move, a sign of trust from Francis Kimanzi despite the player not featuring in a match for close to eleven months. Speaking to Mozzart Sport, the player credited the faith shown to him by the former Harambee Stars head coach.

“It was a big sign of trust to me from the coach. If you get a coach who believes in you like that you are not supposed to take it for granted. My aim is to keep putting in the work and to continue pushing myself to the limit. Of course, it’s not easy. But I believe in hard work right from training up to the pitch. I don’t like favours or relaxing. I’m really grateful for the opportunity I was given,” noted Opiyo

True to his words, his hard work paid off when he kept his first clean sheet against Zoo at Bukhungu Stadium after three attempts.

“It was not a bad feeling at all (keeping the clean sheet). I have been working hard since I signed. Concentration has been lacking a bit (in the first two games) but in this last game, everybody was focused all through,” Opiyo says.

“When I came to the team, I found a compact unit. It was just simple concentration that cost us in the final minutes but the coach has been working on that m-that’s why after the two games we were focused on concentrating until the final whistle,” he said.

With 21 games still to play before the season wraps up, Opiyo is fully focused on just doing what he loves; preventing opponents from scoring.

“On the pitch, you can’t just set clean sheets for yourself. So I can’t say that I’ll want to keep a specific number of clean sheets. I just want to focus on doing my job perfectly which will, in turn, bring the clean sheets,” he concludes.

Opiyo and his Wazito side next travel to Kisumu this Saturday to take on Western Stima that has only managed one win since the start of the season late in November last year. Of course, only another clean sheet will save him from the wrath of endless answerless questions.