By Onward Gangata
FOR long, Washington Navaya has lived in the shadows of his late uncle, Macreza Navaya, with very little recognition given to his talent.
Macreza was a distinguished forward of repute who featured for Zimbabwe Saints, Highlanders and Lancashire Steel during his hey days.
But it appears the TelOne striker, Washington has come of age and taken over the torch from his uncle.
After a lukewarm first season with the Wifi boys last season, Navaya has started this term brightly scoring a goal in each of his side’s four matches of the season.
He sits pretty at the helm of the goal scorers charts with four goals, a goal shy of his tally last season.
And the gangly striker feels this is his season to shine.
“In football there are good and bad moments, there are times when you have dry spells and times when things flourish,” he told The Echo Sports.
“I am grateful to God that i am in good goal scoring form, it feels good.
“Last season i scored five goals and I’m just a goal away from reaching that so my target this time is to get into double figures.”
Navaya’s solitary strike this past weekend made the difference as TelOne edged Harare giants, Caps United 1-0 at Ascot stadium.
He says much of his form is down to hard work and self belief in his abilities as a player.
“The most important thing is hard work and having self belief as well as discipline and dedication.”
On the comparisons with his late uncle, the former ZPC Munyati and Highlanders forward says it doesn’t bother or affect his game.
“Macreza was my uncle, it doesn’t affect me that people compare the two of us because the talent runs in the family.
“If anything, i draw inspiration from his great exploits and it spurs me on to do more,” he added.
