Ghana’s Army Ladies repel Scorpions raid
Strathmore Scorpions women’s hockey team suffered a setback after a stalemate in their Africa Cup for Club Championship match against Army Ladies from Ghana in their second fixture of the seven-team ladies’ competition.
As the two sides registered mixed results, nine-time African champion Blazers savoured a 5-0 walkover win over Kada Queens from Nigeria.
As a result of the stalemate, Scorpions will now be focused on improved performance coming from a 1-0 loss to Blazers on Tuesday.
Scorpions depended on a comeback to level with the Army Ladies of Ghana thanks to Diana Awino’s retaliatory goal just a minute to full time while the visitors had penetrated to score a goal through Charity Akoto’s penalty corner shot three minutes into the last quarter.
Scorpions’ captain Jeriah Onsare told People Sports the team is focused on claiming a win in their final fixtures despite the draw setback in the seven-team round-robin competition to be concluded today.
“We had not anticipated a draw, we were focused on a win but playing the champions from Ghana was a tough one. “However, we are satisfied with the comeback draw but we must win our next match against Delta Queens to have better odds,” Onsare told People Sports.
Army Ladies captain Mavis Ampem said, “We were aiming to win all our matches but we must congratulate Strathmore for their fighting spirit. We were headed for a win but they scored a late goal and we had no time to extend our scores so we will review our next opponents and go all out for a win.”
In another match, Lakers from Kisumu County kicked off their fixture against Ghana Revenue Authority on the right foot after Eusyla Cherotich scored the opening goal in the 6th minute but GRA was not in the game to lose as they came back to score two goals in each half to win the game 4-1.
Vivian Narkour scored a double in the match; their skipper Elizabeth Opoku and Mercy Ackon scored a goal each.
Nine-time champions Blazers on the other hand earned three fresh points without a sweat as Kada Queens from Nigeria pulled out of the competition late.
Blazers head coach Jos Openda welcomed their second win with warm hands having kicked off the tournament on a drawing note after resilient Lakers shared spoils with them off a 1-1 stalemate on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the men’s competition is set to resume today after a day’s rest. Kenya Police will open the floor for Kenyan teams against Pool B log leader Police Machine from Nigeria while Butali is set to collect a walkover against Kada Stars from Nigeria.