Dominant Civics, Oshakati City take six

CIVICS shot to the top of the MTC Namibia Premier League, firstly by going past Tigers with a 3-1 margin, before ousting bitter rivals Ramblers with a massive 3-0 score line to keep their third consecutive title hopes alive.

Civics were in commanding form yesterday when they already led 3-0 at half-time in their match at the SKW Stadium, a day before they cut Tigers into pieces with a 3-1 win at the same venue. Ramblers on Saturday suffered a shock 1-0 defeat against Friends, who were hammered 8-1 by African Stars, two weeks ago, while Oshakati City raked in maximum points in their 3-1 win over Blue Waters on Saturday as well as a 2-1 win against Eleven Arrows yesterday at their Oshakati Independence Stadium.Tigers further dropped points in a disappointing 0-0 draw against Friends at the Rehoboth Stadium yesterday, a result that left them with 18 points to date.Eleven Arrows picked up points at Etoshapoort in Outjo against Golden Bees in their 0-1 victory before falling to City the following day.On Friday, Orlando Pirates scored through Saul Coetzee as they grabbed a 1-0 victory over African Stars, while SKW gave three points away as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to Black Africa on the same night at the SKW Stadium.Tugela Tuyeni, Dumisa Jantze and William Chilufya were on target in yesterday’s encounter against Ramblers, while Chilufya obtained a brace against Tigers, with the third goal edged in by Jamu Ngatjizeko in Saturday’s encounter.Civics head coach Helmuth Scharnowski when asked about his chances against Ramblers, was confident that they would beat the side with less difficulty.”Oh yes, we are going to beat them.I have a few players that we will not use, but the ones who will play on the day (yesterday) will do the job,” he told reporters after the team’s win over Tigers on Saturday.Scharnowski said three of his key players were rusty and unfit in especially the match against Tigers.The culprits were Geoffrey Roman, Mentos Hipondoka and former Orlando Pirates midfielder Richard Biwa.Biwa and Hipondoka came on as second-half substitutes and their poor form was evident as they struggled to chase the ball, while they also appeared overweight.Roman was replaced after he started the game, with him also struggling with pace upfront.Chilufya was particularly in prolific form and on many occasions made Tigers defender Steven Makina go the extra mile to catch up with him in efforts for goals.In yesterday’s match, Civics played without four key players who went to Botswana with the Brave Warriors and still managed to pull off a win, a clear demonstration in the amount of depth that the team has.Midfielders Ngatjizeko and Brian Gurirab, defenders Franklin April and Brian Brendell were not available.The Civics now have 20 points from their ten matches, along Black Africa with the same points, while Oshakati City are on 19 points.SHOCK DEFEAT Ramblers suffered a shock defeat against Friends, while they fell even further apart when Civics showed complete supremacy in their match yesterday.Ramblers were at the top of the league before the weekend’s matches and looked sharp to maintain a good form as most of their key players showed a sense of winning their matches at all costs.A midweek birthday bash organised for their number one supporter Robbie Savage, who was expected to boost their play at the weekend seemed to have not worked well.Oshakati City also had a dream run in the league campaign as they came out undefeated in both their weekend matches.They are increasingly becoming a side that needs to be watched as they are slowly developing a giant killing approach.Pirates squeezed past Stars on Friday in a match that virtually belonged to African Stars, who had more clear attempts at goal but were kept at bay by the experienced Harry Afrikaner in goal.Stars goalkeeper Maxmillian Mbaeva spilled a shot from the busy Pirates winger Ettiene Beukes, on which the deadly Saul Coetzee latched on to score the only goal of the game.Stars played with a purpose and as custom, midfielder Johannes Seibeb and left winger Freedom Puriza both had a good match in midfield, but their danger man, Brouwers Litombo struggled to go past the solid Pirates defence.Pirates defender Ivan Namaseb once again stood tall for his side and he has over the past year developed into a trusted character who guards his lines with authority.Tigers coach Woodie Jacobs told The Namibian Sport after their loss on Saturday that his team was out of sorts in defence, while the midfielder was not functioning up to their accepted levels.He said he still believed in his players and will still be in the hunt for the title.The result between Blue Waters and Golden Bees was not available late yesterday.Ramblers on Saturday suffered a shock 1-0 defeat against Friends, who were hammered 8-1 by African Stars, two weeks ago, while Oshakati City raked in maximum points in their 3-1 win over Blue Waters on Saturday as well as a 2-1 win against Eleven Arrows yesterday at their Oshakati Independence Stadium.Tigers further dropped points in a disappointing 0-0 draw against Friends at the Rehoboth Stadium yesterday, a result that left them with 18 points to date.Eleven Arrows picked up points at Etoshapoort in Outjo against Golden Bees in their 0-1 victory before falling to City the following day.On Friday, Orlando Pirates scored through Saul Coetzee as they grabbed a 1-0 victory over African Stars, while SKW gave three points away as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to Black Africa on the same night at the SKW Stadium.Tugela Tuyeni, Dumisa Jantze and William Chilufya were on target in yesterday’s encounter against Ramblers, while Chilufya obtained a brace against Tigers, with the third goal edged in by Jamu Ngatjizeko in Saturday’s encounter.Civics head coach Helmuth Scharnowski when asked about his chances against Ramblers, was confident that they would beat the side with less difficulty.”Oh yes, we are going to beat them.I have a few players that we will not use, but the ones who will play on the day (yesterday) will do the job,” he told reporters after the team’s win over Tigers on Saturday.Scharnowski said three of his key players were rusty and unfit in especially the match against Tigers.The culprits were Geoffrey Roman, Mentos Hipondoka and former Orlando Pirates midfielder Richard Biwa.Biwa and Hipondoka came on as second-half substitutes and their poor form was evident as they struggled to chase the ball, while they also appeared overweight.Roman was replaced after he started the game, with him also struggling with pace upfront.Chilufya was particularly in prolific form and on many occasions made Tigers defender Steven Makina go the extra mile to catch up with him in efforts for goals.In yesterday’s match, Civics played without four key players who went to Botswana with the Brave Warriors and still managed to pull off a win, a clear demonstration in the amount of depth that the team has.Midfielders Ngatjizeko and Brian Gurirab, defenders Franklin April and Brian Brendell were not available.The Civics now have 20 points from their ten matches, along Black Africa with the same points, while Oshakati City are on 19 points.SHOCK DEFEAT Ramblers suffered a shock defeat against Friends, while they fell even further apart when Civics showed complete supremacy in their match yesterday.Ramblers were at the top of the league before the weekend’s matches and looked sharp to maintain a good form as most of their key players showed a sense of winning their matches at all costs.A midweek birthday bash organised for their number one supporter Robbie Savage, who was expected to boost their play at the weekend seemed to have not worked well.Oshakati City also had a dream run in the league campaign as they came out undefeated in both their weekend matches.They are increasingly becoming a side that needs to be watched as they are slowly developing a giant killing approach.Pirates squeezed past Stars on Friday in a match that virtually belonged to African Stars, who had more clear attempts at goal but were kept at bay by the experienced Harry Afrikaner in goal.Stars g
oalkeeper Maxmillian Mbaeva spilled a shot from the busy Pirates winger Ettiene Beukes, on which the deadly Saul Coetzee latched on to score the only goal of the game.Stars played with a purpose and as custom, midfielder Johannes Seibeb and left winger Freedom Puriza both had a good match in midfield, but their danger man, Brouwers Litombo struggled to go past the solid Pirates defence.Pirates defender Ivan Namaseb once again stood tall for his side and he has over the past year developed into a trusted character who guards his lines with authority.Tigers coach Woodie Jacobs told The Namibian Sport after their loss on Saturday that his team was out of sorts in defence, while the midfielder was not functioning up to their accepted levels.He said he still believed in his players and will still be in the hunt for the title.The result between Blue Waters and Golden Bees was not available late yesterday.