Nairobi Sikh revamped their chances of surviving relegation in the Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) Men’s Premier League with a comfortable 5-0 win over ten-man Nakuru Club yesterday at City Park.
Sikh were staring at a possible drop to the Super League as they were just above the red line with 20 points, same as Nakuru, who are a place down but the former capitalised on the latter’s poor form to reap big and subsequently lift themselves a place up on the log. Nakuru, who were unable raise quorum, failed to master a single shot at goal and leaked their first goal barely two minutes into game as Harvir Ghataurae sounded the board after Arif Shaha found him with a defence splitting pass.
Kenyan international Allan Iningu doubled the scores for Sikh in the 22nd minute after evading tackles mounted by Nakuru’s defence to plunder home a hard to stop shot past the custodian Dennis Mageto. Peter Nyambura found space in Nakuru area and calmly send the ball past the line to take Sikhs three up.
The scoring spree for Sikh continued as Ghataurae completed his double in the 30th minute for a 4-0 lead. A minute after the break, Davis Wanangwe made it five for Sikh but their efforts to add more were futile as Nakuru stepped up their game although the damage had already been done.
Sikh’s stand in coach Inderjit Matharu expressed delight with the huge win and challenged his players to replicate the same fighting spirit in their final two league matches. “It was important to get the win as we were in danger of dropping to the bottom three. It’s unfortunate we have realised that we are in danger late but the win has brought new hope and morale. I hope the players will carry the same spirit to the final matches and finish in a safe rank.”
His Nakuru counterpart Anthony Agesa hit out to the players who failed to show up for the match. “We did not have quorum and most of the players were playing out of position. Thus wis brought by players failing to travel despite making plans to have them available for the match. It’s unethical for them to hold us at ransom and I am looking at a possibility of disbanding the whole team and building a new team consisting of young players who have the urge to play.”
Following the win, Sikh took their tally to 23 points and toppled USIU-A Mashujaa while Nakuru remained third from bottom with 20 points.
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