Jaguars, Parkroad win to spice up relegation battle

Western Jaguars and Parkroad Badgers registered stunning victories at the weekend as the relegation battle in the men’s hockey Premier League took a fresh twist.

After their controversial 14-2 victory against Wazalendo was put on hold the previous weekend, Kenya Police had their match against Nakuru on Saturday in Nakuru called off due to unavailability of umpires.

Poor officiating and protests marred Police verses Wazalendo duel, forcing Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) to lodge investigations into the duel.

That saw Police stay second in the league with 48 points, three adrift of leaders Butali Sugar Warriors, who were not in action.

Bottom-placed Western Jaguars tore apart 2012 champions Nairobi Simba Union 2-1 as Parkroad Badgers, who stunned Butali Warriors one month ago 1-0, continued with their fairy-tale shocking Greensharks 3-1 at City Park on Saturday.

Interestingly, six teams in the 12-team league are relegation candidates with only five points separating sixth-placed Parklands Sports Club - who have 23 points - from bottom-placed Western Jaguars who are on 18 points.

Most of the teams have three matches left to play, thus making the tussle to avoid relegation a thriller.

While Jaguars - who are remaining with two matches - improved their tally to 18 points, Parkroad Badgers rose three places to seventh with 22 points and have three matches to go.

Greensharks remained third in the log with 29 points and two matches to go while Nairobi Simba dropped two places to ninth with 20 points.

In fact, Nairobi Simbas - who are just above the drop zone at ninth place on superior aggregate - are level on 20 points with Nakuru who are in 10th place. Kenya College of Accountancy-University, who are 11th with 19 points, have only one match remaining.

Three teams will be relegated from the men’s Premier League with only one being promoted from the Super League.

Another pulsating scenario is unfolding in men’s Super League with two teams in contention for promotion to the Premier League; leaders Chase Sailors and second-placed Multimedia University.

Third-placed Mvita XI from Mombasa have an outside chance too with 30 points and five matches to play.

Sailors, who are top with 42 points, are remaining with two matches while second-placed Multimedia have 38 points with four matches to go.

Sailors will meet Mombasa Sports Club on December 8 before taking on Multimedia a day later to mark the end of the league. Before that Multimedia will meet Impala and Kenyatta University on December 1 and 2 respectively.

If Multimedia win their three matches before their showdown with Sailors, they will go on top of the league with 47 points even if Sailors beat Mombasa. Sailors will have amassed 45 points with victory over Mombasa.

That means that the duel between Multimedia and Sailors could determine the league winners.