BLACK Africa displayed probably their best performance of the season after they ran circles around their bitter foes Orlando Pirates 5-1 in a Namibia Premier League derby match contested at a packed Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.
The Lively Lions took a shock 3-0 half-time lead.The Sea Robbers started the encounter as the favourites given their excellent form throughout the season and they even had everything to play for as they were challenging champions African Stars for the league title.However, Black Africa had a different idea on a day which saw the normally composed and entertaining Pirates totally outplayed and outclassed.A long queue of fans were still trying to pay their way into the stadium when Black Africa’s gifted midfield maestro, Brian Bantam, rattled the Pirates net, to start what turned out to be a whitewash in the 12th minute.The red and black section of the grand stand was still celebrating Bantam’s goal before an excellent exchange of passes on the right hand side of the Black Africa attack saw star striker Jerome Louis adding goal number two in the 16th minute.The Pirates players seem to be rattled by the goal and started to make unforced errors as the well-oiled Black Africa midfield machine, led by the sparkling Bantam, started to dominate the exchanges in the engine room.Pirates also had their chances in front of the Black Africa goal, however, over-hastiness and wayward shooting from their strikers caused them dearly. Otherwise, goalkeeper Arnold ‘Cool Cat’ Subeb was in uncompromising mood on Saturday.The Lively Lions attacked Brave Warriors goalie Athiel Mbaha’s goal constantly and it came as no surprise when ball-wizard Willy Stephanus weaved his way through a cluster of Pirates defenders in the 29th minute to register the third goal.Black Africa maintained their attacking flair after changeover and it came as no surprise after Clarence Foroma found the Pirates central defence of Steven Goagab and Ivan Makina napping to score his side’s fourth goal five minutes into the second half.The likes of Mohamed ‘Slice’ Ouseb, Eric Aoseb and Klaas Blom found the going too tough against their nimble-footed Black Africa counterparts, but nevertheless Pirates finally grabbed what turned out to be their consolation goal from Samson John midway through the second half.But star striker Jerome Louis silenced Pirates cheering crowd with his second second and Black Africa’s fourth goal after he finished off another superb passing by Bantam and Stephanus set him through with 17 minutes from full-time.Pirates coach David ‘Fellah’ Snewe told The Namibian Sport afterwards that injuries forced him to make unplanned changes before and during the match.His Black Africa counterpart Ricardo ‘Bucksy’ Mannetti said that they knew that Pirates will be attack-minded because they had to win to keep their hopes of winning the league alive ‘that allows us to catch them on the counter-attack,’ he said.
