Sofapaka coach Ezekiel Akwana has promised to turn around the fortunes of the club after a poor start to the 2023-24 FKF Premier League campaign.

Akwana was named the acting coach of Batoto ba Mungu following the sacking of Burundian Francis Haringingo on Monday. Under Haringingo, Sofapaka had gone for five matches without a win, managing one draw against champions Gor Mahia and suffering four straight defeats.

“My first target is to haul Sofapaka from the position they are in, they are not in a good spot and I can see we have depth, good talent, and quality in the squad, and it is all about the players to start pushing themselves to make sure we move to a better position,” said Akwana.

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He added: “The team performance may not be the same as last season because we have a lot of new players, so we must be patient for them to integrate together but I am confident with the way they have trained for the last two days, we have the capacity to start grinding out positive results.”

On why he came back to Sofapaka, Akwana said: “I am back home, but Sofapaka is the only team that gives a coach freedom to do his job, I like the fact they don’t interfere with your work and that is a good thing for any coach to work at Sofapaka.”

On whether he will be under pressure to deliver results, Akwana said: “Life always comes with a lot of pressure for everyone, we coaches were born to face pressure and if you cannot work under pressure then you cannot change anything, to me pressure is very normal and I know how to handle pressure, I like working under pressure.”

On the next fixture against promoted side Murang’a Seal FC, Akwana explained: “We are going to search for three points, nothing else, we don’t want to care if it is home or away, we want to make sure our next five matches we get three points and I am sure if the players stay fit off injuries or any diseases, we will get three points.”