Title race narrows down to Warriors, Police

As the 2018 Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) Premier League enters the homestretch, the battle for the title is shaping out to be a two-horse race pitting Butali Warriors against defending champions Kenya Police.

Warriors last claimed the title in 2015 but feel they have the gas and chance to have a real go at the title. This, in essence, makes for a riveting duel that should excite hockey enthusiasts as action intensifies.

The two sides are tied on 51 points, Butali leading with a better goal difference of 55, while Police are 9 goals short.

However the law enforcers have a game in hand, that if won, could hand them the advantage in the title hunt.

Butali have played 19 games, losing two of those contests with Kenya Police losing once; a 4-3 defeat to GreenSharks back in May.

In an earlier interview with Citizen Digital, Butali head coach Dennis Owoko admitted that they are feeling the heat from the law enforcers with the final day fixture featuring the two sides at City Park grounds on December 9  primed to be a title-decider.

At the weekend Police shocked the hockey fraternity after they went down to fourth-placed Wazalendo losing 16-2 at City Park grounds.

The 18 goal thriller was level 2-2 with 10 minutes left to the final whistle but hell broke loose when the Police won a debatable long corner that led to their third goal.

Wazalendo players protested against the corner and the goal prompting the coaching staff to intervene even as they blamed the umpire for ‘poor officiating’, allegations rubbished by Police head coach Fredrick Masibo.

“You can’t come in a match with a negative attitude towards the umpire. You have to play your game and let the umpires do their job but Wazalendo kept on complaining and we did what we had to do,”said Masibo, whose side went on to pump 13 goals in the last eight minutes .

Wazalendo have lost three of their last five matches, drawing against Kenya College of Accountants University (KCA-U) and winning one against Nairobi Sikh.

Following the weekend results, Wazalendo dropped to position four in the KHU log with 29 points in 20 games.

Meanwhile GreenSharks are third in the 12- team table with 29 points from 19 games.

The last three clubs – Parkroad Badgers, KCAU and Western Jaguars –are sitting on the red line with only three matches to go.

Jaguars are at the tail end of the log with only 12 points, while KCAU and Badgers are locked at 19 points. The season ends on to end on December 9 .