Black Africa (BA) Football Club coach Brian Isaacs said with consistency his team will move out of the relegation zone before the end of the 2022/23 Debmarine Namibia Premiership season.
Black Africa which is currently 14th on the log of a 16-team Premiership stands a chance of being relegated at the end of the season if they don’t improve on their position.
On Saturday at the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) Sports Field in Olympia, 10-times Namibia Premier League winner BA got the better of their arch-rival Orlando Pirates in the Katutura derby.
Two impressive goals from BA striker Petrus Sakaria saw them win the game 2-0 as they started on their journey of moving up the table away from the relegation zone with eight games left in this year’s season.
BA was the hungrier team on the day as they created more scoring opportunities earlier on in the game but could not find the back of the net until midway through the match when a brilliant strike from Petrus Sakaria saw Pirates goalkeeper Pieter Tshiamijo exposed.
Sakaria once again found the back of the net in the second half as he caught the Pirate defence napping.
In an interview with the media after the match, Isaacs said the win was important because Pirates is a team they don’t want to lose against.
“We cannot afford to lose points and games in the position that we are in. It’s important to be consistent and accumulate as many points as possible,” said Isaacs.
The coach added that the newly recruited BA coach Bobby Samaria will also play the head coach role as they are both going to use their experience to get the team out of the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, Michael Pienaar, Orlando Pirates assistant coach said their players didn’t execute the created opportunities, therefore BA managed to capitalise on theirs.
“We now have to go back to the drawing board to see where to change. We need the points and the players need to show hunger as well as character,” Pienaar said.
In other matches played on Saturday, Citizens won their first match of the season with a 2-1 score against Tura Magic at the Khomasdal Stadium, while African Stars lost their first match of the season against Blue Waters in Walvis Bay.
In Okahandja, Rundu-based Julinho Sporting lost 3-2 to the home team Okahandja United and relegation-threatened Eleven Arrow managed to collect a point at home after a two-all draw against Young Brazilian in Walvis Bay.
At the UNAM stadium here, UNAM collected maximum points after their 1-0 win against Civics, while in the Otjiwarongo, Mighty Gunner beat Life Fighter 1-0.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency