The law enforcers were among the favourites to wrestle the title from record champions Gor Mahia before the 2024/25 season kicked off but their poor start to the campaign saw a section of pundits write them off.
Having won the domestic FKF Cup, Police got the opportunity to represent Kenya in the CAF Confederation Cup where they failed to go past the second preliminary round after losing 3-1 on aggregate to Egyptian giants Zamalek.
They shifted their focus to the league where their first match saw them draw 1-1 against Tusker, draw 0-0 against Ulinzi Stars, defeat Mathare United 2-0, draw 1-1 against Sofapaka, and lose 1-0 against Shabana.
Their sixth match against Kariobangi Sharks ended in a 0-0 draw, then drew 1-1 against table leaders KCB, before losing 1-0 against AFC Leopards. The defeat against Ingwe signaled the end of coaches Salim Babu and Anthony Kimani as they were fired with immediate effect.
Police searched for a replacement, and they landed in Burundi where they acquired the services of Ndayiragije. He came in when Police were languishing at the bottom of the table, with only one win to show for it from eight matches.
Ndayiragije has proved vital as he has won his first five matches. He started off with a resounding 3-1 win against Nairobi City Stars, 1-0 win against promoted Mara Sugar, 3-0 win against Bidco United, 1-0 win against Gor Mahia and 1-0 win against FC Talanta.
The resurgence has seen Police jump from the bottom of the table to third position with 23 points from 13 matches. They are now one point behind leaders KCB and second-placed Tusker, who have 24 points apiece.
Police will take it a game at a time
Despite the impressive run of results, Ndayiragije has insisted his focus is to make sure that Police keep winning their matches, He further refused to be drawn into whether Police will challenge for the title only saying “we wait and see where we will be at the end of the first leg.”
“We don’t want to talk about it (the title yet). We only want to make sure we win our matches, our focus is now on the next match and after that we focus on the next game, we take it a game at a time and then we will see where we will be at the half way stage of the season,” Ndayiragije told Flashscore.
“We have a game on Saturday and that is our focus, we want to see how many points we will have garnered by the season end.”
Pressed further to explain whether Police were going for their maiden FKF title, Ndayiragije posed a question: “What do you think will happen if we win all our remaining matches?” Tell me what will happen? So we don’t want to lose, we want to play to win and the rest we will see at the end of the season.”
Asked what had fueled Police’s run of five straight wins, Ndayiragije said: “Nothing really, it is all about God, and also the effort from my players, they have put in a good gear since I came here, they are giving more than 100%, they want to win matches and their performance is out there for everyone to see.
“Again through my experience, the Kenyan league was not new for me, I used to follow the league while in Burundi because I was the head coach of the national team and needed to monitor some of the Burundian players in the league, it is a league I have followed for a while so when I came here, it was not difficult for me to get settled and do the job.”
Against Talanta, whom they beat 1-0, Ndayiragije said: “In the Kenyan league there is no easy team, and there is no easy match, every match is difficult so what matters is how you approach it, first half was easy for us but we couldn’t get a breakthrough.
“We went into the game having beaten Gor Mahia where my players used a lot of energy and we have now played five matches in less than a week under scorching sun but we thank God we managed to win.”
Ndayiragije praised his predecessors – Babu and Kimani - for doing a “wonderful job” which according to him made his work easier. “I want to thank the coaches, who were here before I came in, they did a tremendous job of building a strong team, and the management is also making sure that everybody is happy, so the good performances are due to many factors.
“I also had a personal chat with the players, gave them my philosophy, told them what we want to achieve at the end of the season and they took it in positively and you can see how much effort they are putting in, not only during game time, but even in training.
“I am very happy also because we don’t have injuries, all the players are fit to play and any coach will tell you what it means to have all your players fit for matches, and their discipline is perfect.”
Ndayiragije’s winning run will come under severe test on Saturday when they face a Kakamega Homeboyz side, who have been blowing hot and cold this season. Abana Beingo are currently sitting 14th with 15 points from 14 matches. Last season, Police sealed a double over Homeboyz with the first-round tie ending in a 3-0 win before they won the second fixture 2-1.
In the previous campaign, it was Homeboyz, who won the first meeting 1-0 but Police recovered to make amends in the second round fixture by registering a similar result.
