By Gilbert Wandera and Robin Toskin

Bouyed by instant success at the first crack at the Kenyan Premier League, Sofapaka President Elly Kalekwa is already looking ahead insisting he has set the benchmark for the coming seasons.

After watching his first timers crush Red Berets, 3-0, in Nakuru on Saturday, Kalekwa even joked: "I will be the chairman of the KPL for the next three years."

The Congolese businessman said this in reference to KPL’s unique system in which leadership is based on a team’s league position.

The premier league winners assume KPL’s chairmanship while the top four also sit in the senior management committee, a method that is credited with keeping politics out the body.

"This is sweet victory got out of sheer hard work and discipline, but make no mistake we don’t intend to relinquish whatever we have achieved in the coming seasons," Kalekwa said.

Club chairman Granton Samboja said they would raise stakes even higher next term by retaining and reinforcing the team.

"We have set ourselves the standards. What we have achieved shows reasons why we should keep politics out of football," Samboja said.

On the field of play Sofapaka coach Robert Matano criticised for not winning outside Nairobi appeared to have saved the best for last after handing Red Berets a thrashing.

Before Saturday’s results, Sofapaka had won only once away against Sony Sugar three months ago and it was an unimpressive 1-0 win.

They have struggled to win away drawing most of their matches but coach Matano says this should not be an issue.

He said after winning the league on Saturday: "It is not true that we have not been playing well away even though we have had few victories," he said.

"The truth is all top teams have been struggling to win away and it is not just us. This league has not been easy considering that even relegation-bound teams have been causing trouble for the top sides."

Matano said he does not want to worry about continental football next season insisting that there will be enough time to think about that.

Regarding the 3-0 win, Matano said he expected an even bigger margin and rued lost chances in the match.

"We expected to do even better because we were coming all out. It was a do or die battle for us. We wasted many chances which we should have converted," said Matano.

Matano said he is not taking lightly their November 21 end of season fixture against KCB.

"We want to finish on a positive note and for us it is still an important match so we take it seriously," he said.

The match has no bearing on Sofapaka who have already won the league with one tie remaining.

Saturday’s win was the second time the league champions are winning by such a huge margin.

They beat AFC Leopards 4-1 in the first leg, which remains their biggest win so far.