Big guns march on in Cup

FIVE Namibian premiership giants marched into the quarter-finals of the coveted Cell One NFA Cup, with emphatic wins in football matches played in Windhoek, Walvis Bay and Tsumeb at the weekend.

First to make their way into the last eight were Orlando Pirates, who dispatched their fellow premiership opponents Civics 2-1 on Friday night, while African Stars, Black Africa, SKW and Ramblers were the other teams.The only premiership side that fell out was Chief Santos, while lower division outfits Blue Waters, Bingo FC and Newcastle also made their entry to the country’s richest football competition.In matches at Walvis Bay, Blue Waters beat Robber Chanties 3-1, African Stars downed Swakopmund’s Blue Boys 3-0, while Eleven Arrows recorded a thrilling 4-2 victory over Black Africa.In Windhoek, SKW beat Fedics United 4-1, while Ramblers beat Tigers 1-0.At Tsumeb, Newcastle edged Chief Santos out of contention with a 5-4 win on penalties after a 3-all draw at full-time, while Bingo FC won their match 4-2, also on penalties after a 0-all draw at full-time.For Blue Waters, Bolle Haraseb, Akio van Wyk and Fisher Kalimba were on target, while Robber Chanties of Khorixas pulled one back through Harold Haraseb in low-key match.For Stars, Heinrich ‘Gazza’ Kazeurua, Ninja Karongee and Brouwers Litombo hit the target in a somewhat one-sided match that could have seen Stars winning by a bigger margin.Eleven Arrows made Black Africa pay heavily for their lax defence with a 4-2 trashing in a lively match at a packed Kuisebmond Stadium in Walvis Bay.Arrows’ Muna Katupose drew first blood in a match that started at an extremely high pace, before the mercurial Rudolf Bester added two more before the break.The red-hot Bester made the BA defence sweat for their (Arrows) 3-1 loss in Windhoek in a league match the previous weekend, with Edward Damaseb finishing off the business in the second half. BA scored through defender Moses Katjiteo and striker Jerome Louis, who with their team-mates tried in vain to break the Arrows defence which stood firm.Arrows capitalised on BA’s defensive errors in both halves and also had a strong support that rallied behind them to pull off a great victory in what was truly a top-class match.Despite the poor lighting at the stadium, the match was played at a heart-stopping pace with players displaying magnificent individual skill overall. The draw for the last eight will be done in Windhoek on Wednesday.corry@namibian.com.na