Badgers with early advantage

Badgers have started their second season in the Uganda Hockey Association (UHA) League (NHL) strongly.

Two convincing wins in a row have them looking at a promising season but they are careful not to get ahead of themselves. A title race is still far-fetched for them but beating two mid-table sides is enough for the side to believe they can rise higher than the 7th place finish they managed last season.

The side followed up a 1-0 win over City Lions on the opening weekend a fortnight ago with a 4-1 win over Rockets last weekend in what turned out to be a surprisingly easy win.

Ismail Nuwamanya bagged a brace while there were goals for Abdul Shafic and Sula Bwabye as Badgers went joint top with defending champions Weatherhead on six points. Elvis Opoya scored a consolation for Rockets at the brink of full time.

“We are alert to the fact that this is only the first round and we will have to be consistent throughout the season,” Badgers defender Rooney Aheebwe, said.

Weatherhead thumped Thunders 11-1 after the latter made the mistake of trying to pull one back at 4-1 through Hameem Kasule’s 28th minute flick.

Braces from Timothy Ntumba and Collines Batusa plus a four-goal haul from Thomas Opio to go top of the scorers’ chart with seven goals did the business for Weatherhead, who also had Ashraf Tumwesigye, Peter Elolu and Brian Okodi find the back of the net.

Exchanging leads

There were heavy wins for Wananchi (8-1 against Makerere University) and Kampala Hockey Club (KHC) Stallions (10-0 against Weatherhead Titans) as they started their season but the match of the weekend was probably between KHC Originals and City Lions.

The latter led early through Geoffrey Kawiga but two third quarter goals from Gerald Kairu and Savious Kalema gave Originals a 2-1 lead. Ezra Mandela and Muhammad Ali then won it for City Lions with a penalty corner and spot flick conversion respectively.

For the women, Weatherhead and Wananchi also started their season with wins (11-0 over Thunders) and 2-1 (over Hockey Dreams Foundation) while KHC Swans beat Makerere University 6-0.

Deliverance Church of Uganda (DCU) and Weatherhead Historicals both scored in the first half of their 1-all draw.

Men

Makerere University 1-8 Wananchi

WHC Titans 0-10 KHC Stallions

Badgers 4-1 Rockets

Weatherhead 11-1 Thunders

KHC Originals 2-3 City Lions

Men’s Table

Team                           P          W        D         L         F          A         PTS

Weatherhead               2          2          0          0          21        2          6

Badgers                       2          2          0          0          5          1          6

KHC Stallions             1          1          0          0          10        0          3

Wananchi                    1          1          0          0          8          1          3

Rockets                       2          1          0          1          7          6          3

City Lions                   2          1          0          1          3          3          3

Thunders                     2          1          0          1          5          12        3

KHC Originals            2          0          0          2          3          13        0

Makerere University   2          0          0          2          3          14        0

WHD Titans               2          0          0          2          1          14        0

Women

Thunders 0-11 Weatherhead

Wananchi 2-1 Wananchi HDF

DCU 1-1 WHD Historicals

Makerere University 0-6 KHC Swans

Women’s Table

Team               P          W        D         L         F          A         PTS

KHC Swans    2          2          0          0          20        1          6

Weatherhead   1          1          0          0          11        0          3

HDF                2          1          0          1          4          2          3

Wananchi        1          1          0          0          2          1          3

Historicals       2          0          2          0          2          2          2

DCU                2          0          1          1          2          4          1

Makerere         2          0          1          1          1          7          1

Thunders         2          0          0          2          1          25        0