African Stars’ coach Woody Jacobs congratulated his players on a ‘great team effort’ after their thrilling 2-1 victory against Tigers on Tuesday evening.
In a scintillating match of non-stop action, Stars took the lead through Edwin Korukuve on 66m, but Absalom Imbondi equalised for Tigers on 79m.
Stars threw everything into the attack in the final stages and their lanky substitute striker Elvis Tjivasera scored the winner on 88m, when he rose high to head home a corner kick by Riaan Cloete.
The result puts Stars level with Black Africa on 42 points but they go top for the first time this season, due to a better goal aggregate.
Jacobs said his players had to dig deep for the victory.
“It was a difficult match for us coming off two matches in quick succession, and the boys had to dig deep mentally and physically, which they did, and I said it before, this team has something in it. We left it late, we only have this drive towards the end, but I think maybe it’s our destiny,” he said.
“But credit to Tigers, they gave a good account of themselves and gave us a good run for our money and we had to dig deep. Elvis (Tjivasera) came up with the goods but overall it was a great team effort,” he added.
Jacobs said his previous comments that Stars would win the league had caused quite a stir, bur he had faith in his players.
“There is no coach in the world who does not have confidence in his players, and I just said it publicly and it created quite a stir and you could see the way Tigers were fighting, it was because of those comments that I made. But I believe in this team and try and carry that faith over to them. It’s great to be on top with two games remaining and I would love to see how the league unfolds after this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Namibia Premier League confirmed on Wednesday that there will only be one Premier League match played this weekend, with Ramblers hosting United Stars at the Ramblers field at 15h00 on Saturday, while the rest of the Round 22 matches have been postponed indefinitely.
“This decision has been necessitated due to various factors like the participation of the Brave Warriors in the Afcon qualification matches slated for 1 June, and the relegation and title contenders battle amongst member clubs,” the NPL said in a statement.
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