Julinho target consistency

With a bit of good fortune, Julinho Sporting would have been one of the front runners in the Debmarine Namibia Premiership, the club’s chairman, Dino Ballotti, says.

Julinho ended newcomers Eeshoke Chula Chula’s impressive unbeaten run in the topflight with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Rundu on Saturday, before being held goalless by Mighty Gunners the following day.

The victory over Chula Chula also marked a first win of the campaign for Julinho, after starting the season with two draws and as many losses.

“The positive result against Eeshoke is just a combination of hard work and the team putting effort in. We’ll take the draw [against Gunners] – both Eeshoke and Gunners are quality sides,” Balloti says.

He believes his side have not been getting the rub of the green despite generally playing well. Recent results, however, suggest that an upturn in fortunes is in the offing.

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We still need to figure out how to score more goals as a team, and we’re keeping clean sheets, which we’re happy for,” he says.

“Around our slow start to the season, we understood it’s not going to be easy. We have lost eight of our starring 11 players from last season, and some new faces have come into the squad.

“We felt the results were perhaps unlucky here and there. So, with a change in fortune, having a four-point weekend is good, we build on that and keep pushing,” Ballotti says.

Another similar haul of points this weekend when they welcome champions African Stars and embattled Orlando Pirates to the Rundu Stadium will confirm that the tide is turning for Julinho and propel them into the top half of the table.

“There’s no more easy games in the premiership. The coming weekend we’ve got Pirates and Stars. Pirates definitely need some points, so they’ll come all guns blazing. And Stars, we all know they are the reigning league champions,” says Ballotti.

“We haven’t really set a target for the season if we’re honest. We want to continue playing good quality football, and I think our assessment will come at the midpoint.

“We will then see realistically how we fare. We want to maintain our premiership status, I think that’s most important and push on to see how well we can do,” he says.

Similarly, Young African coach Marcelus Wakudumo challenged his charges to build on Saturday’s 3-1 success over struggling Orlando Pirates at Unam Stadium in Windhoek.

The result moved the Gobabis club from 12th to eighth on nine points after seven rounds of action, with Orlando Pirates dropping to second from bottom on a paltry four points.

“When you win it’s always joy and happiness, so we are really happy about these three points,” Wakudumo says.

“We’re still a work in progress. What I want us to do is to maximise on the pressing tactic of our game and the scoring part of the game.

“We haven’t been scoring that much lately. Today we got three goals, so that is a plus for us going forward as a team. But I think the boys did well. We’re building and we’ll get there,” he said in the post-match assessment.

Pirates coach Costa Khaiseb says there are “no excuses” after another underwhelming performance.

Getting the team to do the basics right and minimising errors will eventually see an upturn in results and boost team morale.

“It’s a completely new team compared to last season. After our coach left us, we had to refocus for the past two weeks.

“Our start was very bad. A small loss in concentration led to conceding two early goals, and our choices in the game made the game a bit difficult.

“We’re going to go back to the drawing board, work again and come back strong,” Khaiseb says.

Sunday’s other match saw Life Fighters and Chula Chula play out a 1-1 stalemate.

Fighters moved above Pirates on goal difference as a result, while Chula remain fifth.

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