Khomas Nampol lose ground to top two

The Debmarine Namibia Premiership title race is intensifying as the top two teams are expected to go all guns blazing in the next few weeks.

Khomas Nampol FC has found the going tough in the past couple of weeks, which has seen the team dropping to third in the title race over the weekend, while leaders Ongos FC and defending champions African Stars look set for a grand finish in the remaining matches of the season.

The police team failed to gain any points this past weekend, adding up to four defeats in the space of one week which leaves them chasing the leading pack.

These results seem to indicate that the police team, promoted into the NPFL for the first time, is showing signs of fatigue towards the end of the season, after having dominated the first leg of the season.

Their main goal was to avoid relegation, but experts and the public began to tip the club for potentially having a fairy-tale end towards the season.

Coach Fortune Eichab admitted it was a weekend to forget for the club following losses by 3-0 to Ongos FC and 2-0 to Young African.

“One cannot stress enough that we had a weekend to forget, as we conceded five goals without scoring.

“Our forwards were off target and we really struggled to get going, but we will not let that get to us as we will try to find solutions to the current problems and get back to the drawing board as soon as possible,” Eichab said.

As things stand, the police team are five points off the top and also four behind second-placed African Stars, who have been in a three-horse race to retain their premiership title.

Log leaders Ongos FC is however showing no signs of slowing down going into the final months of the season, securing two wins last weekend.

Coach Agnus Chabala Elemu still wants to avoid complacency as his Ongos men now only hold a one-point advantage at the top of the table.

“There are strong teams behind us and we will not just celebrate this, because anything can change in the next few weeks and that is why we will not get carried away by our position,” Elemu remarked.

“We’ll take it game by game,” added the coach who joined Ongos less than a month ago from Life Fighters.

The leaders’ 3-0 win over Khomas Nampol on Friday night was a significant result, before they proceeded to beat Young Brazilians FC by the same margin on Sunday.



AFRICAN STARS DETERMINED

Stars, who went into the weekend in second place, could have been on top now had they not been held 0-0 by struggling Civics on Saturday.

The ‘Reds’ however ensured that they keep Ongos in their sights when they beat Tigers FC 2-0 at the Independence Stadium on Sunday. Uetuuru Kambato put Stars in front before the replacement Paulus added the second goal.

It was former Unam FC mentor Ronnie Kanalelo’s first weekend as the Stars interim coach after the latter’s league winning coach Mervin Mbakera was shown the door. Mbakera has since joined Katutura rivals Tigers FC.

An intriguing feature of this season is that two teams that were promoted to topflight football last season are now in the top four, with a handful of matches remaining.

Newcomers Eeshoke Chula Chula’s impressive run in the premiership has seen them occupying fourth place and certain of avoiding relegation in the Oshakati club’s first season in Namibian football’s highest league.