For Warriors, a return to the continental scene is good enough

Former Kenya Hockey Union men’s premier league champions Butali Sugar Warriors head coach Godfrey Wakachunga is happy to steer his side back to the 2018 Africa Cup for Club championships after the side finished second on the league behind Kenya Police.

Butali held Kenya Police to a 1-1 draw in their final match of the season on Sunday thus confirming their place in the 2018 continental championships — as the two teams earned tickets to the annual competition.

Champions Kenya Police managed amassed 77 points, seven ahead of Butali and Wakachunga said that his charges are happy to be back in the continental stage after missing out on the recently concluded championships that were held in Accra, Ghana.

“For us, it is nice to be back to the Club championships.It is an opportunity to redeem our image given that we missed the 2017 tournament.It’s upon us to give a good account of ourselves by putting in a good performance,” Wakachunga said.

According to Wakachunga, the 2015 champions lost ground in this year’s title in the first leg but has fired a warning shot to their competitors that they will bounce back next season.

“Minor mistakes made especially in the first leg cost us the title but we will be correcting that so that we don’t fond ourselves in that mess again,” added Wakachunga who also revealed that they will be seeking to add some firepower to the squad by signing new players.

Meanwhile, Police assistant coach Patrick Mugambi has said that Sunday’s match had a little significance as they had already wrapped up the league but bemoaned the defeat to Western Jaguars, last year which ultimately ended their unbeaten run.

“We are happy with how the season went; the only blemish is the defeat to Western Jaguars.Our aim was to try and finish the season unbeaten.”

Other matches played in the penultimate week of the season saw Parkroad Badgers beat 2016 champions Strathmore University Gladiators 3-0, with Sikh Union Club having to dig deep to edge the already relegated Technical University of Kenya (TUK) 2-1.

In the women league, Kenyatta University took the bragging rights in a university derby after blowing apart league minnows the University of Nairobi by a solitary goal.

The loss, for UoN, in their final match of the season, capped a year of struggle for the university side given that they finished the league without a single win, scoring a paltry six goals in the entire campaign.

The KHU league come to a close on Sunday, February 18 with only four matches on cards after the majority of the teams finished their campaign last weekend.