EARLY pacesetters in the MTC Namibia Premiership, Black Africa and Mighty Gunners, both stumbled to surprise defeats over the weekend.
BA went down 3-1 to a fired-up Citizens at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Friday night, while Gunners lost 2-0 away to Julinho at Rundu.
The BA v Citizens encounter sprang to life with two goals in two minutes after the break.
Nino Kooper put Citizens ahead, 15 minutes into the second half when Brandon Neibeb’s shot was blocked, and he volleyed the rebound into the net.
BA, however, immediately responded when Vitapi Ngaruka headed in a free kick by Immanuel Heita a minute later.
Citizens were more determined, though, and their relentless attacks paid off when they won a penalty for a foul on Upengisa Ujaha, who stepped up and blasted the ball into the net from the spot on 77 minutes.
Veteran midfielder Letu Shatimuene put the issue beyond doubt when he steered home a cross by the tireless Ujaha with three minutes to go to make the final score 3-1.
Black Africa coach Paulus Shipanga said nothing had worked out for them.
“It’s one of those games where nothing was working. My players were making silly mistakes, but it’s a good loss for us to come back to earth. I think when we beat Pirates, my players thought they were the best. But this is football, which humbles you, so I’m actually glad that we lost now so that I have more games to work on,” he added.
Citizens’ goalkeeper coach Ephraim Tjihonge said their game plan worked out well.
“We prepared well, and the way we planned the match worked out well. BA is a counter-attacking team, so we tried to minimise their counters, breaking their attacks and closing them down. We just stuck to our plan, but BA’s plan was out of the window after 15 minutes because they like playing from the back, but we sorted that out.
The result puts Citizens in fourth position on 17 points – six behind leaders Black Africa, but Tjihonge was not getting carried away.
“Nothing much changes; we are still the underdogs. We have to keep our feet on the ground and take it game by game, and see how it goes. But most importantly, we have to keep on picking up the points. We are a small team, but I think we can beat a lot of teams with a little bit of luck and hard work,” he said.
Julinho, meanwhile, also moved up to 17 points after beating Mighty Gunners 2-0 on Saturday. They, however moved up to third position with a slightly better goal difference than Citizens.
Mighty Gunners remain second on the log on 21 points.
Defending champions African Stars, meanwhile, moved two places up the log to eighth position after beating Tigers 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Gustav Isaak scored the winning goal against his former club after only four minutes with a great shot that gave Tigers’ keeper David Petersen no chance.
Tigers had several chances to equalise, but their strikers could not capitalise and Stars held on for victory, which puts them in eighth position on 12 points from seven matches.
After the match, Stars coach Bobby Samaria said they could still be among the title contenders this season.
“We have to start winning all our remaining matches, even though it’s not going to be easy,” he was quoted by Nampa as saying.
“Since we started with our catch-up games, we have won two and lost one. But if we keep on winning, we will be among the top contenders for the title soon,” he added.
Tigers coach Marvin Mbakera said he was happy with his team’s performance on the day, despite not collecting the much- needed three points.
“We did all we could, but luck was not on our side. Of all the chances that we created today, we should have scored at least one goal. But when it’s not your day, then there is nothing you can do. I am happy to see that the players gave it their all, and we now look forward to our next fixtures,” he continued.
In another match on Saturday afternoon, Okahandja United beat Blue Waters 1-0.
