Francis Kahata (C) rebuked by his team's coach over unsatisfactory performance.

By Gilbert Wandera

Nairobi, Kenya: A few days after being challenged to improve his performance, Thika United forward Francis Kahata says he took the rebuke positively.

Kahata was on the receiving end of coach Francis Kamau’s criticism after the tactician demanded he shapes up or risk losing his starting position in the team.

It is a rebuke the man who became an instant hero after scoring for Kenya in their 1-1 tie against Nigeria last month has taken positively.

“My coach and I have been together since my school days at Chania High and all along the way if I was a weakling of his challenges I would have crumbled long time ago.

“I am grateful for his challenge and faith in me and understand the fact he has demanded some improvement not only from me but also from other players,” Kahata told the club’s website.

He further said the criticism from his coach is meant to help him become a better player after struggling to score in last few matches.

Elsewhere, stunned by their 2-0 loss against Karuturi Sports at Afraha Stadium, Ulinzi Stars bigwigs have come out to apologise to their fans for the club’s poor home record.

Club chairman JS Mwinyikai assured fans they will do their best to ensure the team gets back to its rightful place.

“I personally, and on behalf of the team would like to apologize to all our fans and the entire Kenya Defence Force (KDF) for the team’s performance.

“We know we have hurt our fans with the recent performance. We have seen all games and we have to sit down as a team and look at where the problem is.

“Against Karuturi there were two teams which played: the first half with positive mentality and the second which was not good,” he told the club’s website.

“We will sit down with the technical bench and individual players before we start training next week to have a clear analysis of the team and point out where the problem lies. We promise that we will bounce back in a big way,” he added.

He also acknowledged the team has had a problem in striking, especially considering they have scored just five goals in ten matches.

“It is a problem we have noticed and we will address. We will consider whether we can convert some midfielders to strikers but all those are decisions lying with the technical bench,” he said.