Butali Sugar Warriors slowly marching on to top
What you need to know:
- Butali cut Police’s lead to six points after a routine 4-0 win over Technical University of Kenya on Wednesday evening at City Park Stadium, Nairobi.
- The win saw Butali displace Greensharks from second spot in the log as they chase down the league leaders.
Butali Sugar Warriors coach Godfrey Wakachunga has challenged his side to maintain their consistency as they seek to make ground on Kenya Hockey Union men’s Premier League leaders Kenya Police.
Butali cut Police’s lead to six points after a routine 4-0 win over Technical University of Kenya on Wednesday evening at City Park Stadium, Nairobi.
Goals from Barnabas Odhiambo, Lawrence Okubasu, Seth Oburu and Emmanuel Simiyu gave the lakeside club the three points.
The win saw Butali displace Greensharks from second spot in the log as they chase down the league leaders.
“We are slowly marching to the top and the key is to maintain this consistency in our remaining first leg matches,” Wakachunga said.
The former league champions are now on 25 points after nine matches and have played two games less than Police who lead with 31 points.
And Wakachunga, who took over from the late Cliffe Okello in February this year, believes there is no room for error.
“We drew with Nakuru two weeks ago and that was pretty disappointing. It will be a very close fight for the title and I think the team that drops the least number of points stands a good chance of winning,” the tactician added.
Sharks dropped to third place on 23 points, with Wazalendo a point back in fourth place. Against the students, Butali had to wait until the second quarter to finally breach the debutantes’ defence.
The first goal arrived after 18 minutes when a well worked short corner by Frank Wanangwe found Odhiambo, who blasted the ball past TUK keeper Kelly Ingati.
Two minutes to the end of the second quarter, Butali broke swiftly and the swashbuckling move was completed by Okubasu to give Butali a healthy advantage going into halftime.
TUK threated briefly in the third quarter after coach Eddy Odhiambo introduced Lawrence Githinji and Dennis Mbithi.
The duo combined for a rare chance but Butali keeper Pius Ratoru saved brilliantly to protect his team’s two-goal lead. Butali put the result beyond doubt with two more goals in the last quarter to complete a good outing in the city.
TUK have now lost four of their last six matches and eighth overall of their 10 matches played this season.
This leaves them at the bottom of the log with four points with the conclusion of the first leg on the horizon.
