Pepsi Hockey League Week 26: (15/12/01)

1. Trustees Break Exchequers' Unbeaten Record

Trustees of SSNIT took a giant step to wrestle the recent power-shift in Ghana Hockey from their ace rivals and 2001 league champions Exchequers of the Bank of Ghana when they beat them by a lone goal in the very final match of the Pepsi Hockey League that ended on Saturday. Trustees went into the game as underdogs but survived the Exchequers onslaught till three minutes from the end (67th minute) when they sprang a surprise of their own with a penalty-corner conversion by national player Lawrence Nartey. Trustees pushed-off but it was Exchequers that won the first penalty corner of the day that was wasted in the 7th minute. Trustees responded with their own raid of the Exchequers goal area and in the process forced their first penalty corner in the 17th minute. With 'MC' Armah playing in defence due to the ! unavailability of some key Exchequers player due to suspension among others, the Trustees defence had their work cut out as they did not have to work overtime to keep their opponents' attack at bay. The game was fast and thrilling with Exchequers having a slight edge. Their dominance was evident in the numerous scoring opportunities they created to which Marox Abadoo, arguably the best hockey goaltender in the country today, stood big and tall to shut them out. The Trustees victory has provided the much-needed spice for the thrill that would come with the Mobitel knockout finals between the two clubs scheduled for the coming weekend. (Umpires: R. Kudolo and G. Mensah).

2. Mainoo (Dada) 'Steals' the Top Scorer Crown

Though Eric Mainoo (Dada) missed a penalty stroke conversion in the 50th minute, he true to prediction, run riot scoring five times to 'steal' the top-scorer award for the season from 'MC' Armah of Exchequers when Multistix pummelled Acme 8-4 in their last league match. Multistix took a commanding 5-0 lead by the 30th minute through Hagan (8th), Mainoo (14th, 28th, 30th) and Asante (27th) and settled down to toy around with their opponents on the field of play. Acme however did not take the taunting lightly and went ahead to redeem two goals before halftime through Awrotwi (33rd and 35th). On resumption, Multistix maintained their relaxed approach to the game and were duly punished by Taylor (38th) and Agboko (47th) to bring the scoreline to 5-4. Sensing danger, Multistix struggled to pick their game up and were successful in the end scoring three goals through Hagan 61st) and Mainoo (58th and 65th) who missed a penalty stroke conversion in the 50th minute. Dada took his goal haul to 33, one more than 'MC' Armah to grab the league's top-scorer award on the last day of competition.

In other matches, Golden Sticks of Ghana Commercial Bank Limited split the points at stake with Reformers of Prison Service in a 2-2 drawn game. Scorers for the Bankers were Asiedu (10th) and Charlse Sowah(30th) while Larbie (25th) and Engmann (47th) scored for Reformers. Extinguishers beat Kingsticks by a 3-2 margin to end the season on a very good note. Scorers for Extinguishers were Gameli (12th and 66th) and Van-Tay (5th) while Akaba (7th) and Dodi (59th) scored for Kingsticks.

3. Reformers Crowned Ladies' Division Champions

Reformers of Prison Service completed their dominance of the Greater Accra hockey competitions when they beat CEPS 2-1 during the week to lift the Pepsi League trophy seven points ahead of their closest rivals. Scorers for Reformers were Felicia Mifetu (10th and 36th) with Janet Gyasi (46th) scoring for CEPS. Though CEPS won by a whooping margin of 11-0 over 'whipping-ladies' Comets, that was not enough to give them the second spot as they had not amassed enough points during this season which could best be described as turbulent for revenue-generating officers. Scorers for CEPS were, Janet Gyasi (5 goals) Grace Marmon-Halm (4 goals) and R. Lamptey and E. Quagraine (1 goal each). Felicia Mefietu took the t! op-scorer award for the season with 22 goals followed by Grace Marmon-Halm with 17 goals.

4. Multi Babies Clinch Juvenile Title

In the Juvenile division, Multi Babies bagged 19 points at the end of the competition to clinch the tile ahead of GAHA babies who accumulated 17 points. Pepsi Babies' Emmanuel Morrison denied his brother Prince and his team-mates a sweep of honours as he beat him to second place by one goal in the top-scorer award with 12 goals.

The Final League Table (Week 26)

CLUB	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
Exchequers	22	17	4	1	98	13	55	+85
Trustees	22	14	6	2	80	12	48	+68
Fire	22	12	6	4	54	34	42	+20
CEPS	22	11	7	4	66	24	40	+42
Multistix	22	12	4	6	69	40	40	+29
Reformers	22	11	5	6	50	36	38	+14
MarineSticks	22	10	3	9	57	42	33	+15
GoldenSticks	22	10	2	10	57	33	32	+24
Citizens	22	7	2	13	30	57	23	-27
Kingsticks	22	3	1	18	25	125	10	-100
Veterans	22	2	2	18	20	89	8	-69
Acme	22	2	0	20	13	113	6	-100