OSHAKATI City’s 15-year presence in the Namibia Premier League came to an end on Saturday, following a 4-2 defeat at SKW.
While City wallowed in their misery, Mighty Gunners may yet have escaped relegation with their 1-0 victory away to Tigers at the Independence Stadium, while Blue Boys lost 2-1 at home to champions Black Africa.Winger Anton Dawid’s thumping near-post effort was all they needed to collect the vital three points against a poor Tigers side. Victory lifted Gunners out of the second relegation spot and more significantly above Civics, who reportedly secured a controversial 1-1 draw against Ramblers. Gunners – on 26 points – are now placed ninth, followed by Civics on the same number of points with Blue Boys on 24 dropping to 11th. City have 19 points collected from 20 matches.Blue Waters edged Eleven Arrows 2-1 to move onto 28 points and into the top half of the table as they moved out of relegation trouble. A visibly dejected City side were still in the match at halftime with the scores tied at 1-1, however SKW stepped up a notch in the second half to win 4-2 and condemn Oshakati City to second-tier football. The sombre mood continued as the City team boarded the bus to begin their long trek home. ‘The guys were demoralised,’ said Oshakati City’s head of operations, George Hauwanga. ‘They had that thing that they were relegated before the match,’ he addedHauwanga said the team – whose demise he attributed to poor planning – now intends on making a quick return to the premier league.’It’s now back to the drawing board,’ he said. ‘We plan to keep most of the players and bounce back.’African Stars and Orlando Pirates played out a goalless stalemate in their encounter at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday. That result meant Stars on 30 points for the season dropped to fourth, while Pirates on 29 are fifth. Ramblers (35) cemented second spot, while SKW (31) occupy third going into the final round of play.
