Butali Sugar Warriors subdue Western Jaguars

New coach of Butali Sugar Warriors Godfrey Wakachunga got his stint off to a winning start after his charges thrashed Western Jaguars 8-0 in their opening match of the Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) men’s Premier League match at City Park Stadium at the weekend.

A brace each from striker Emmanuel Simiyu and Vincent Odhiambo set the former champions on course for a comfortable win in the Saturday night encounter. Others on target were Lawrence Okubasu, Hannington Otieno, Seth Oburu and Peter Nyambura.

Wakachunga replaced former coach Cliffe Okello, who died on January 24 this year after leading Butali to back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015 before they were dethroned by Strathmore University Gladiators last year.

“The team played well and followed the system we used in training. It was a good start to the season for us. Hopefully we can build on this result going forward,” a delighted Wakachunga said.

A ruthless first half performance saw the Kisumu-based side score four goals with the attacking trio of Zack Aura, Simiyu and Lawrence Okubasu constantly terrorising the Jaguars’ defence.

It was actually Jaguars, who posed a threat early on, wasting two good chances to take the lead before they were dully punished for the misses. Four more goals followed in the second half as Butali showed their attacking depth despite the absence of forwards Frank Wanangwe and Barnabas Odhiambo (both knee injuries).

Jaguars however recovered to claim a 3-2 win over Parklands on Sunday in their second match of the weekend. Ian Baron scored the winning goal five minutes from the end to give the Kakamega-based side the much needed points.

“It was the perfect response after the awful result against Butali and we realize we need to tighten up at the back to avoid conceding many goals,” Jaguars team manager Sammy Mushiru said. In another men’s top flight encounter, United States International University of Africa (UISU-A) came from behind to beat Nakuru Club 2-1.

The visitors had taken a first half lead through Dolean Mugaisi but the students rallied in the second half to first level through Brian Kiplimo’s 56th minute field goal before Pollycarp Otieno sounded the board eight minutes from time.

Nakuru were looking for their second win of the weekend having beaten debutantes Technical University of Kenya (TUK) 4-1 on Saturday. In the women’s Premier League, Sliders beat newcomers University of Nairobi 4-2.

A brace from Anita Agunda and further strikes from Georgie Randall and Doris Kirui handed the points to Sliders.