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Kenya Hockey Union men’s Premier League defending champions and runners-up Butali Warriors and Kenya Police kicked off their Africa Cup Club Championship campaign on the right foot after both teams secured priceless wins in respective opener fixtures played at the Dashmesh grounds at the Sikh Union, Nairobi.

Star-studded Butali Warriors beat Western Jaguars 2-1 while Kenya Police was a 1-0 winner over Hippos from Zimbabwe thanks to a penalty goal.

Butali displayed their intention of winning the match in the first minute of their fixture against Western Jaguars.

Moses Ademba beat his markers and flicked in the ball to score the opening goal from the right wing to signal a warning to Jaguars defenders.

The Warriors kept on attacking and in the process a couple of chances presented themselves but the Jaguars’ defenders were not willing to concede.

However, cards were issued in what seemed to be a very physical match with lots of stoppages.

It was until the 36th minute when Calvins Kanu extended their lead to a 2-0 affair that the recently crowned KHU men’s champions got ahead of themselves.

Cracks opened up for the Jaguars, luckily their opponents were not clinical enough to make maximum use of their opportunities and only managed one goal in the 58th minute thanks to Derrick Wakwabubi’s stick.

Commenting on their game, Butali captain Constant Wakhura appreciated the fact that despite fielding a younger side, they nonetheless lived up to their expectations. Wakhura confirmed that they will carry the spirit forward onto their next match against Exchequers from Ghana at 9 am today.

“It was a very interesting and competitive match against our local rivals and it has served as a good opening match. We fielded a relatively younger side and we target to improve largely on our execution when we play Exchequers. We had more chances but we did not convert them to goals and so we will be keen on how we attack in our next game,” he said.