National Hockey league toppers for men Impala will aim to bounce back to their winning ways in the Labour Day weekend after dropping two points against league newbie’s Gorilla on Wednesday. Impala who finished fourth last season will take their campaign to the Coast for three games slated for April 29, 30 and May 1 against Mombasa Sports Club, Mombasa Club and Mvita respectively.
Impala had won their first two league games of the season, beating Wazalendo Youth 3-2 and Thika Rovers 2-0.
However, their ambitions to extend the 100 per cent win record suffered a major setback in a goalless stalemate against David Onaka’s boys.
Impala head coach Amai Olubayi partly blamed the bad weather, which led to a water-logged pitch. This, he said, worked against his fast passing style of play.
“We normally play short and fast passing game but the pitch was flooded and our game plan changed, giving our opponents a high hand of winning the game. We could not complete our passes well in the half and it proved hard to put the ball past their goal line,” said Olubayi.
However, said the one point was better than none, ensuring their stay on top of the log with a total of seven.
He expressed his hopes in finding a well conditioned turf at the Coast for their next games.
His Gorilla counterpart, David Onaka, also complained on the state of the pitch but claimed that it did not influence the result either way since the situation affected both teams in equal measure. He congratulated his boys for the good job having lost once since they made it to the top flight.
They, however, remain winless in the league in three games after playing Daystar University (1-1) and losing to Wazalendo Masters (3-0).
