Hockey: USIU-A survive Jaguars attack at City Park

Samson Ratia of USIU during Premier Leageu match against Western Jaguars at City Park Stadium on Sunday Oct 3, 2019. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Going gets tough for former Strathmore Gladiators as they face relegation threat.

Western Jaguars had a successful Nairobi outing bagging four points out of the possible six in the Kenya Hockey Union men’s Premier League, at City Park.

Jaguars began their weekend with a deserved 2-0 win over 2016 champions Strathmore University Gladiators on Saturday evening.

Yesterday, they laboured to 1-1 draw against United States International University of Africa (USIU-A) to salvage a point and move to fifth place with 21 points. 

The four points also saw the Kakamega players, who set their sights on a top-four finish at the start of the season, move closer to achieving their objective.

Jaguars coach Mike Malungu lauded his charges for the good fight.

“Four out of six means they played well but our aim was to gain maximum points. We are also working at ensuring we don’t settle for less going forward,” Malungu said. 

Malungu rued missed chances against USIU-A, saying victory would have seen them move to third, which is within their season’s objectives.

“Victory against USIU-A was very crucial because it would have moved us closer to our goal. However, all is not lost because we have three matches remaining and we are determined to make them count.”

Robinson Omutekete and Kelvin Machinji were on target for Jaguars to condemn Strathmore, who are one place above relegation, to their 10th loss of the season.

With only one point separating Strathmore and second from the bottom Nairobi Sikh Union, the students will have to up their game in their remaining encounters if they desire to remain in the top tier or face the axe. 

Against USIU-A, Omutekete converted a penalty corner in the eighth minute to give Jaguars an early lead. Brian Kipkorir outwitted the Jaguars defence and goalkeeper Paul Navangi to level the score in the 25th minute.

The two sides then unsuccessfully attempted to break each other’s defence for the remaining part of the match finally sharing spoils. 

In the men’s Super League, Mvita XI bounced back from their 1-4 defeat to Kenya College of Accountancy University (KCAU) to beat Nakuru 1-0.

A first half short corner conversion ensured that Mvita did not return to Mombasa empty-handed.

Their Mombasa Sports Club (MSC) counterparts left Nairobi a happy lot after chalking double victories.

MSC beat Nakuru 2-0 on Saturday before edging out KCAU 1-0 yesterday.