Kenya Police stop Ghana's Exchequers to win Gold Cup

Kenya Police are the winners of the Gold Cup Clubs invitational hockey tournament after a hard-fought 2-1 win over Exchequers of Ghana at the Sikh Union Club Stadium, Nairobi on Friday.

The visitors hammered Police 4-1 in the first leg before the law enforcers came from behind and returned the favour.

Exchequers captain Elikem Akaba gave his side a sixth minute lead before Brian Saina (23rd) and Titus Kimutai (56th) turned the tables.

Police captain Victor Wekesa lauded the team for their mental strength.

“We are grateful for the win. We dedicate the trophy to the late President Mwai Kibaki who was laid to rest last Saturday in Nyeri County. We started the event on a wrong foot  but at the end of it all, we recovered way ahead of time to win the title," said Wekesa.

"Our focus now shifts to the league on Sunday where we will line up against United States International University of Africa,” said Wekesa.

Akaba said they leave the country better than they came.

“We gave our all in today’s match but it’s unfortunate we didn’t have a good ending after we had started the tournament on a winning note. While some calls today were suspect, we take it in our stride and in good faith as the situation will help us know how to react if the odds are against us going forward,” said Akaba.

“We will have to improve on converting short corners. We had countless short corners in this event but we failed to convert,” he added.

In the high-paced match, Exchequers pushed Police to play in their own half  before Akaba sounded the boards barely six minutes into the tie.

Exchequers hold onto the lead as the first quarter ended.

Policed matched their opponents in second quarter with classic build ups from Kenyan International Willis Okeyo and defender Richard Birir but in two occasions, Wekesa  and Kennedy Sibweche were denied by Ghanaian goalkeeper Duisberg  Offei.

Police leveled the the scores after Kimutai converted a short corner in the 23rd minute.

Police's shaky defence was noticeable as they conceded a short corner but Exchequers failed to convert as teams headed for the break.

Exchequers coach Richmond Attipoe then rested Offei for Simon Dontoh as the second half got underway.

Both teams had a couple of short corners but they failed to convert in the third quarter.

Oliver Echenje would have put Police in the lead in the few minutes of last quarter but he hit wide before Kimutai scored in the 56th minute to help Police win the match and the trophy.

USIU-A defeated Strathmore University 2-0 to finish third in a four-team tournament.

Lawrence Makhatsa and Brian Kiplimo scored for USIU-A in the 45th and 57th minutes while Rawlings Shikholia pulled one back for Gladiators in the 48th minute.

Meanwhile, the Kenya Hockey Union league matches return this weekend at different venues across the country.

On Saturday, reigning men’s Premier League champions Butali Sugar Warriors will be keen to maintain their unbeaten streak when they play Western Jaguars in Kakamega.

Butali lead the standings with 10 points from four matches while Jaguars are second from bottom with three points from the same number of matches played.

Butali will be keen to win and move away from their closest rivals Strathmore.

Strathmore have 10 points from five matches but they will not be in action this weekend.

Away in Mombasa, Mombasa Sport Club will welcome Greensharks as they seek to record their first win of the season, while at City Park in Nairobi, Unbeaten Sailors play Parkroad Badgers.

In the women’s Premier League, Dutch Group Flower Wolverines welcome winless Lakers at City Park.

In men’s Super League, MSC battle University of Nairobi as Mvita welcome Sikh Union, while Wazelndo Master play Technical University of Kenya(TUK).

In the men’s national League, Karate Axiom play Daystar University, Thika Rovers battle
Nairobi Chapel as Dyko Heroes welcome Impala in Mombasa.

Fixtures

Saturday

TUK v JKUAT (12pm,City Park)

Western Jaguars v Butali (1pm, Kakamega)

Mombasa West v UoN (1pm, Mombasa)

Thika Rovers v Nairobi Chapel( 1pm, Strathmore grounds)

Wolverines v Lakers (2pm,City Park)

MSC v UoN (2pm, Mombasa)

Dyko Heroes v Impala (3pm, Mombasa)

Daystar v Karate Axiom (3pm, Strathmore)

Mvita X1 v Sikh Union (4pm, Mombasa)

MSC v GreenSharks (4pm, Mombasa)

Parkroad Badgers v Sailors (4pm, City Park)

Wazalendo Masters v TUK (6pm, City Park)

Sunday

Sailors v Lakers ( 9am,  City Park)

Dyko v UoN (10am, Mombasa)

Mombasa West v Impala (10am, Mombasa)

Axiom v Thika Rovers (10am, Strathmore)

Kisii Falcons v Bay Club (11am, Kisii)

Nairobi Chapel v KU (11am, City Park)

JKUAT v  Nakuru (1pm, City Park)

USIU A v Kenya Police (3pm, City Park)

KU v Parkroad Tigers (5pm, City Park)