Orange……… (5) 7 BAC………………. 0 Thandiwe Moyo Sports Correspondent
KENYAN side Orange successfully defended the Hockey African Cup of Club Champions when they beat Zimbabwe’s representative Bulawayo Athletic Club at Khumalo Hockey Stadium yesterday.
BAC who had ealier in the tournament played Orange, failed to score as the Kenyan side camped in their half.
Orange got their first goal 10 minutes into the match from Lilian Aura who shot in a penalty corner taken by Barbra Nekesa Simiyu and stopped by Terry Juma.
Orange went two up from a well taken field goal by Hellen Kiprotich Chemtai in the 20th minute.
Chemtai registered her name on the score chart again on the 22nd minute with another field goal.
BAC continued to back pedal and conceded another field goal in the 21st minute through a Siminyu goal.
In the 25th minute Caroline Guchu struck the team’s fifth goal.
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After the break Jacqueline Wangechi Mwangi increased the goal tally from a Besty Muronji Ommala pass.
Guchu, who coach Jos Openda described as the team’s trump card, scored the team’s final goal in the 53rd minute.
BAC had no shot at goal and it was only once when Nicola Watson managed to get to the Orange arch, but their defence made up of Juma, Ommala, Simiyu and Flavia Mmogi Mutiva thwarted the move.
“Hats off to Orange,” Neil Davidson said after the match.
“Their fitness levels were impressive and they kept a good defensive structure, something we should take into account in the future. It has been a long week and we had a tough semi-final match which was physical and drained us. I am proud of the girls, they played well especially in the second half,” Davidson said.
An ecstatic Openda said they were happy to have successfully defended the cup.
“We defended the cup effectively and achieved one of our goals,” he said. “We did not achieve everything we had set out. We wanted to finish the tournament without conceding.
We prepared much earlier for this tournament. After the Uganda tournament we continued with our preparations.
The tournament was not easy especially in the early stages because all the teams wanted to get to the final. All the teams that we played in the preliminaries were tough.
“This was not an easy final. BAC fought hard and they played well. Guchu played well in the central midfield,” Openda said.
Earlier Hippo Valley who were playing for third place against Trustees of Ghana lost 1-6.
Trustees got their goals from Sayla Nsalbini and Ernest Opoku who scored a brace each with Rahman Abdur Anum and David Ghablah weighing in with one each.
Hippo Valley’s solitary field goal by Prosper Sithole was not enough to secure them the bronze medal.
Gra of Ghana won the bronze when they beat Kenya’s Strathmore 6-3.
Meanwhile in the men’s final Sharkia beat Egypt Police 1-0 in a highly charged Egyptian derby final to retain the championship.
Sharkia scored in the Samir Mohamed in the 30th minute. Egypt Police felt hard done by umpires Kirk Mendoza of South Africa and Bryn Lowe of Zimbabwe who had a good game.
However, Egypt Police were not impressed as they charged menacingly at their opponents spoiling for a fight with officials doing their best to quell the situation.
