Pepsi Hockey League – Final Results (Week 26)

Marine Sticks Flee from the Wrath of Exchequers Marine Sticks Hockey Club fled the wrath of uncrowned 2002 Pepsi League champions Exchequers of Bank of Ghana when they failed to turn up for their 26th week match to mark the end of the 2002 league competition. Marine Sticks carried out their threat to refuse to be used as the icing on the cake for the celebration of a 3rd consecutive Pepsi league title for Exchequers. By annexing the Pepsi Hockey league championship, Exchequers have virtually assured themselves of a ticket to participate in the 15th Africa Cup for Club Champions competition to be held in Pretoria, South Africa from March 23-30 this year. Exchequers, who took the opportunity to engage in a practice match, have thus set their sights on a showdown with Pepsi league runners-up, Trustees of SSNIT for the Mobitel Knockout championship on January 11 2003. Multistix Beat Veterans 3-2 as Eric ‘Dada’ Mainoo Claims 2nd Consecutive Top Scorer Award Veterans Hockey Club held their heads up high after calling off the bluff of a potential Multistix massacre by losing 2-3 in a highly contested match. The match started on a cautious note with Multistix dominating the exchanges.

Multistix’s prolific goal scorer Eric ‘Dada’ Mainoo crowned a successful year with a double strike to take his tally to 22, 6 goals ahead of closest rivals MC Armah of Exchequers and Taylor of Marine Sticks.

Mainoo brilliantly finished off a move from midfield with a fierce shot into the roof of the net in the 13th minute to open the scoring for Multistix. Veterans responded through K. Bram-Larbi in the 16th minute after Kukubor had outrun the defense line of Multistix. In the 20th minute, a characteristic swift move from the Multistix midfield found Dexter Hewlett at the end of the exchanges as he finished with a diving connection to restore the Multi lead. Mainoo finished off another brilliant move from the wing to put Multi 3-1 ahead at half time.

Back from recess, Multi slowed down considerably and continuously missed the goal scoring chances they created. Veterans stepped up the tempo and pulled one goal back from an Amoa-Ababio strike from close range. Veterans kept the heat on Multistix, and it took the vigilance and agility of stand-in goalie Nii Armah Quaye to prevent a Veterans equalizer and assure a Multi win.

In the other match of the day, CEPS beat Kingsticks 4-2 to finish 4th on the league table.

Final Standings for the Pepsi Hockey League Competition: Men’s Division: Week: 26 Date: 4/01/03 Club P W D L F A Pts. GD 1 Exchequers 20 16 3 1 72 11 51 +61 2 Trustees 20 15 2 3 76 19 47 +58 3 Marine 20 14 2 4 52 20 44 +36 4 CEPS 20 12 5 3 64 21 41 +42 5 Fire 20 9 4 7 37 50 32 -13 6 Multistix 20 10 1 9 61 47 31 +14 7 Golden sticks 20 8 3 9 58 38 27 +20 8 Reformers 20 5 2 12 29 50 17 -22 9 Kingsticks 20 4 1 15 34 58 13 -24 10 Citizens 19 3 0 16 22 85 9 -63 11 Veterans 19 1 0 18 14 117 3 -103 Women’s Division: Week: 26 Date: 4/01/03 Club P W D L F A Pts. GD 1 Reformers 12 8 3 1 29 5 27 +24 2 Fire 12 8 2 2 60 7 26 +53 3 CEPS 12 5 1 6 44 16 16 +28 4 Comets 12 0 0 12 0 104 0 -104 Juvenile Division: Week: 26 Date: 4/01/03 Club P W D L F A Pts. GD 1 GAHA Stars 10 6 3 1 17 10 21 +7 2 Multi Babies 10 5 2 3 14 13 17 +1 3 Indece JSS 10 3 3 4 10 11 12 -1 4 Tema Stars 10 3 2 5 20 17 11 +3 5 Street Aca. 10 3 2 5 10 13 11 -3 6 Pepsi Babies 10 3 2 5 14 21 11 -7