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Newcomers Oranje Leonas received a rude welcome to the women's Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) Premier League after going down 3-0 to Amira Sailors 3-0 on Sunday at the City Park Stadium in Nairobi.
Oranje, a KHU development outfit, together with Dutch Flower Group Wolverines were promoted to the top tier after finishing in the top two positions in the Super League last season.
Leah Omwandho (17th), Sandra Vodoti (51st )and Yvonne Madowo (60th) were on target for Amira.
Amira coach Thomas Mucheni said as much as they recorded a win, the players didn’t start the match with the punch he expected.
“The first half was sluggish, but I’m glad the players managed to raise to the occasion. We hope to build on this win going forward us our goal this season is to challenge for the title,” said Mucheni.
Oranje coach Tom Olal conceded defeat saying their basics were still wanting.
“We lacked confidence. While we had a good second half, it’s unfortunate we didn’t convert. We hope to make amends before our next match against champions Blazers. But bottom line is that we don’t want to be one timers in the Premier League as our hope is to be here for the longest time,” said Olal. who doubles up as the national women’s coach.
Having played to barren draw in the equally balanced first quarter, Amira mounted pressure on their opponents and their effort paid off as Omwandho converted a penalty corner in the 17th minute to put them in the lead.
Shillah Nyongesa could have levelled the scores in 27th minute for Oranje when she was left alone with Amira’s goalkeeper Maureen Joy to beat, but she shot wide as they trailed Amira at the break.
The pep talk seemed to have worked for Oranje as they gave a good account of themselves with superb ball dribbling skills, good build up and perfect combinations, but they faltered on delivery.
They will blame themselves for failing to convert a series of penalty corners as Vodoti doubled the scores for Amira through a penalty corner in the 51st minute.
Oranje held on and pushed their opponents to play in their own half , before Nyongesa tapped off Shyln Wanea's shot, but the goal was disallowed and minutes later, Madowo scored in the dying seconds of the game to confirm Amira's win.
