KCA University coach Wilson Otieno is confident his side will return to the Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) men’s Premier League after beginning life in the Super League with a convincing 5-1 win over Multimedia University on Sunday at City Park.
KCA were part of the three top flight clubs axed last season and the students launched their bid to return to the elite league with a huge win which left their coach oozing with confidence that they will achieve their target at the end of the season. Otieno, who doubles up as the national women’s team coach, counts on his charges teamwork and individual brilliance to achieve his target.
He said: “I am happy we have began life in the Super League on a winning note and hope to build on this going forward and achieve promotion at the end of the season. We will take each match at a time and with good planning, I have no doubt we will be re-admitted to the senior league.”
The soft-spoken coach who made a return to the bench after missing out during KCA’s top flight matches by virtue of being a contracted player with Sikh Union, expressed content with Sunday’s win but called upon his boys to improve on their conversion of short corners.
The union’s statues bars player-cum-coaches who ply their trade in the top flights clubs and coach clubs in the same league to sit on the bench during their matches but are allowed to man the touch-line if the leagues are different. “We still have to improve on capitalising on short corners as we wasted a good number today. Every goal scoring opportunity should count.”
KCA got their goals through Shadrack Ruto who broke the deadlock barely two minutes into the game before Samuel Lubisia doubled the lead three minutes later. Ruto completed his brace in the 44th minute before Arnold Marango got the fourth and fifth goal for KCA in the 48th and 55th minute to render Michael Mboya’s 52nd minute goal a mere consolation.
Earlier at the same venue, defending champions Telkom bagged three points without breaking a sweat after their match day opponents JKUAT failed to show up for the match.
Telkom who were seeking to bounce back from their last weekend’s barren draw to Amira Sailors, rose to the crest of the standings with four points, one ahead of their fiercest challenger Strathmore University Scorpions who have a match in hand.
Telkom coach Josephine Ataro said: “We really wanted to pour our frustrations following our 0-0 draw with Amira last weekend in this match but it’s unfortunate JKUAT did not turn for the match.”
