Police promise to shoot down ExceQuers despite the absence of key players

Despite missing the services of five key players, the Kenya Police Hockey team head coach Patrick Mugambi believes that his side will shoot down the visiting ExcheQuers in the Gold Cup Invitational Tournament set for Sikh Union Stadium.

The Ghanaian side jetted in on Friday for a series of test matches that will see them take on Police, Strathmore University side, the Gladiators, and USIU-A Mashujaa. 

The tournament is set to run-up to next week and comes at a time when the leagues have taken a break to pave way for the national teams that are preparing for various international assignments.

Police who are set to confront ExcheQuers starting later in the afternoon will be without the trio of Robert Masibo, Oliver Echenje, and Titus Kimutai who are all with the national team that is gearing towards the North African qualifiers set for next month.

Additionally, the law enforcers will also miss the services of Govan Mbeki who is injured, and Vincent Odindo who are nursing injuries.

Mugambi who revealed that this will be the fourth time in recent times Police are taking on ExcheQuers and will be hoping to serve them with painful hockey lessons despite the absence of the five players. He said they had faced them back in 2019, 2017 and in 2011.

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"If my memory serves me right, the last time we played them, the game ended in a 2-2 draw. This time round, we want to beat them in a convincing way. They have good players considering that they headhunted the best hockey players in Ghana. This tournament will help improve in some areas ahead of the resumption of the league," he said.

Mugambi further challenged his fringe players to make good use of the absence of their seniors and fight for places in the starting team.

"The absence of the five players is an opportunity for those who have not been getting playing time to show what they are capable of doing and offering the team. These matches will also boost their confidence given the caliber of teams in the tournament," he added.

Mashujaa and Gladiators will get day one proceedings underway starting 12:30 PM EAT before paving way for the Police vs ExcheQuers game that is scheduled to kick off at 1:45 PM.