Sheefeni Nikodemus
23 May 2011
Dethroned league champions African Stars ended Blue Boys’ brief stay in the top flight with a 2-0 win in Windhoek on Saturday.
The Swakopmund side, who before this season had never played in the elite division, joined Oshakati City as the two teams to drop out of the premier league.
Blue Boys needed to win their final game to stay up and hope that Mighty Gunners or Civics fail to pick up points. Ironically Civics played Gunners on Saturday, winning 1-0 courtesy of Lucky Maselesele’s first league goal of the season.
However Blue Boys’ fate was sealed just before halftime when Stars’ right-back Denis Ngueza tapped in the first goal, following neat interplay in the box.
And their misery was compounded midway through the second-half as defender Linovene Heita inadvertently misdirected an Edwin Korukuve cross into his own net.
“The team did not have enough premier league experience,” Blue Boys head coach Betuel Rasta Mbuende told The Namibian Sport after the match.
“I think sometimes that lack of experience made that sometimes they don’t believe in themselves.”
Despite their relegation, Mbuende said the club had performed admirably in their historic first season as top-flight campaigners.
He added that the team intended to return next season and hoped his star players – especially talisman Jordan Haimbili – would remain to help the club to achieve that ambition.
“I believe we did well to be promoted and play in the premier league for the first time,” he said.
“We will come back. You obviously don’t know who will stay and who will go but since most of the guys are homegrown, I think they will stay.”
In other results, Oshakati City lost 2-1 at home to Tigers, Eleven Arrows beat SKW 2-0, Pirates won 0-1 at Ramblers while league champions Black Africa drew 1-1 against Blue Waters.
Even though they lost, Ramblers finished second on the log to earn N$300 000 with third-placed Pirates collecting N$200 000 for their efforts.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Excerpt from:
Namibia: Blue Boys Down, Gunners Survive