Birds plot SKW downfall

BLUE Waters coach Lucky Shipanga hinted that they will collect full points against SKW at the Atlantis Stadium if his players stick to the game plan.

He told The Namibian Sport yesterday that he will not take their opponents lightly, but is confident that they can pull this one off.’We know that we are playing in a very competitive league and all the teams are strong enough and every coach wants to win matches. At this stage, we don’t want to get complacent because of the good run we had so far, but I think we need to be consistent and reach our objective or staying in the league,’ he said.Shipanga’s side is skippered by former Warriors defender Gottlieb Nakuta, while he will be assisted by the likes of Fisher Kalimba, Nico Beukes and Tenga Mwaikange in defence.Blue Waters this season also acquired the services of experienced goalkeeper in Banana Siku from Oshakati City and he will be deputised by Andrew Jagger who helped the team through the promotion playoffs.Other key players for the side include midfielders Wycliff Kambonde who returned to the coastal outfit, while Lourence Louw, Bolle Haraseb, Scara Shimba and the return of Kulu Hawala from a long-term injury has so far boosted the side.Shipanga says he acquired about 90 per cent of his players from the feeder team Blue Birds and was happy with the performance of some of the youngster so far.The youngest player in the side is Henry Somseb, who is only 17 years of age.Somseb also played for the national under-17 side and is a bright prospect for the future according to Shipanga.Former Tigers striker Dokkies Schmidt is also on their books, but his fitness is currently being assessed and he might add value to the team at a later stage.Despite all their acquisitions this season, Shipanga says he does not place high expectations on himself and the players, but will take each game as it comes. In other matches at the weekend, African Stars has a date with Eleven Arrows in possibly the biggest encounter for the weekend at the Sam Nujoma Stadium tomorrow at 19h00, while Orlando Pirates takes on Ramblers tonight at 20h00 at the same venue. Tigers travel to Tsumeb to meet United Stars at 16h00, while Civics hosts Oshakati City at the SKW Stadium, also at the same time.BA SINK SPURSMeanwhile, deadly Brave Warriors striker Jerome Louis found the net late in the second half to sink Hotspurs 2-1 in an error-ridden MTC Premiership clash at the Sam Nujoma Stadium to go top of the league. But they will hold on to that spot possibly until tomorrow afternoon when Blue Waters eyes to overtake them again as they plot the downfall of SKW who are visiting the harbour town.BA lead Blue Waters with a point and if Blue Waters bury SKW at the Atlantis Stadium tomorrow, they will be two points ahead again and it will also signal their fourth consecutive win in the league.But on Wednesday, BA fought to the end to achieve the feat as Hotspurs struck the opening goal already in the first half through a long-range effort by Enkali Mbako that saw Bongile Grootboom fumbling the ball into his own net.Clarence Foroma opened for BA midway through the second half, before Louis tapped in an easy ball to give his side a hard-fought victory over a rigid Hotspurs side in a match that also saw the sending-off of BA striker, Roger Katjiteo.The match was marred by dubious decisions going against both teams, but the equaliser by Foroma seemed to have broken the morale of Hotspurs who played more enterprising football for most of the match.Hotspurs coach Willem Kapukare was furious about some of the decisions that were made by the referee and called for another referee to handle their matches in future. corry@namibian.com.na