Cheplaiti turns up late to give Police edge over Jaguar
Veteran striker Moses Cheplaiti scored the winning goal as former Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) men’s Premier League champions, Kenya Police edged visiting Western Jaguars 2-1 at the City Park Stadium yesterday.
The win was a huge morale booster for the 2017 winners who were only playing their first league match after a month of inaction.
While the law enforcers moved third on the log with 21 points, Jaguars who had on Saturday lost 2-0 to second-placed Wazalendo, remain fifth with 17 points and therefore end their visit to the city with double defeats.
Police who had shown signs of dominance earlier in the game had their efforts paying off when Robert Masibo scored at the end of the first quarter.
Jaguars who had lost 5-3 to Police in the first leg despite having rushed to a three-goal lead with only 20 minutes on the clock restored parity with a well played move that was buried by Ivan Ludiali at the start of the third quarter.
Jaguars were holding on for a point but Cheplaiti had other ideas hitting the back of the board 13 minutes to the end of the match, for a much needed victory.
Coming from two defeats to Wazalendo and leaders Butali Sugar Warriors, Police captain Oliver Echenje was happy with the performance while hoping the team will continue to improve in the subsequent matches.
“Everyone knows that as a team, we have not been at our best since the start of the second leg. That can also be said we started the season poorly,” said Echenje.
