Hockey: Struggling Sailors find no place to hide from Lakers in Kisumu City
Hockey
By
Washington Onyango
| Oct 23, 2022
Lakers Hockey Club picked their first home win of the season after seeing off Amira Sailors 2-0 in a KHU women's Premier League match at Kisumu Day High School grounds yesterday.
Debra Otieno and Eustla Cherotich scored in the second and fourth quarters respectively as the Kisumu-based outfit kicked off their second leg on a winning note.
The Austin Tuju-led side headed into the match behind a poor run of home defeats that saw them go down 1-0 to USIU Spartans and Strathmore Scorpions.
The victory saw Lakers leapfrog Spartans into third place with 11 points, three points behind defending champions Blazers. Strathmore are top of the table on 21 points.
Speaking after the win, Lakers captain Alice Owiti urged her teammates to quickly turn their focus on today's match against bottom-placed Sliders at the same venue.
"It was a tough match for us taking into account the pressure we had to prove ourselves that we can win at home. It is not always easy to come out of season jinx but we are glad we have put the earlier season blushes behind us," said Awiti.
"We have no time to celebrate because we have a very important game against Sliders. We defeated them 4-0 two weeks ago and if we are to achieve our goal of a top-two finish, we have to score more than four against them."
Lakers coach Tuju added that he is proud of his team's show especially after a poor start to the season.
"This win is as a result of hard work and consistency in our training which we have gradually increased to four sessions per week. Despite some of our financial challenges, we are seeing the fruits of good training which we plan to continue doing," he said.
In Kakamega, Western Jaguars completed a double over Kenya Police after beating the law enforcers 2-0 at Eregi Training Teachers College.
Emmanuel Wiswa and Keith Machinji scored for Jaguars to help them stretch their unbeaten run to nine matches since losing to Wazalendo 1-0 in April.
On the other hand, the visitors' run of eight matches unbeaten came to an end.
The win saw the Kakamega-based side move to second on the log with 24 points, the same as Police but Jaguars have a better goal difference.
Meanwhile, leaders Strathmore University will face off with defending champions Blazers in a top of the table and potential title decider match at City Park today.
The two sides are separated with seven-points. But the university side will be hoping to continue to show their might after ending the first leg with a 100 percent win record.
Scorpions have won all their seven matches and will be out to make it hard for the experienced champions whom they defeated 2-0 earlier in the season.