Mombasa Sports Club head coach Chalo Kambona is concerned with the mixed results exhibited by the men and women’s teams this season.
The women’s team are second in the Kenya Hockey Union Premier League while the men’s side are 10th in the Super League.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s action, Kambona praised the women’s side for their strong showing, where they have four wins, a loss and a draw to amass 13 points, six behind leaders Blazers.
“This impressive performance has come with good preparation. It’s all about managing the opponent and giving them time to show their weaknesses,” Kambona said.
While their goal is to silence naysayers who doubted their strength at the start of the campaign, their philosophy remains — to take one match at a time.
The women’s team have two tough matches to close out the season with, starting with Saturday’s visit to USIU-A along Thika Road.
They are scheduled to play Blazers in the season-ender on December 15.
“We respect them (USIU-A) for being in the league for a long time but that’s no threat to us. What will matter is how we play until the final whistle,” he said.
“To lift the trophy may be a challenge since both our opponents still have two matches to play,” he observed.
“It’s an uphill battle since both are fighting their way up.”
“They may also have national team players, but that’s not a threat. We’re fired up and now that we are playing at home, in Mombasa, they (Blazers) won’t find it easy,” he added.
He highlighted the challenges facing the men’s team including lack of cohesion due to work commitment among the payers.
“We have a good team but our main weakness lies in transitioning from attack to defence. It costs us games,” he said.
However, he believes they will come good at some point with a 5-0 win over Kitale Hockey Club earlier in the season a perfect motivation.
They have won just once, drawn twice and lost six times.