Citizens finally come alive

It took Citizens 22 Debmarine Namibia Premiership matches to record a victory, and champions-elect African Stars a match more to taste defeat.

Stuck to bottom of the log since the start of the season, Citizens stunned high-flying Tura Magic 2-1 on Saturday and Unam 2-0 in thrilling fashion the day after.

The wins have the club dreaming of an extraordinary escape from the relegation zone, as it leaves them just 15 points off safety with five more matches to go.

To survive the drop, Citizens, now on 10 points from 23 matches, will have to win all of their remaining fixtures and hope that Julinho Sporting, Black Africa (BA), and Eleven Arrows do not pick up any points.

Captain Charles Nyarko, who scored a goal in each of the victories, certainly believes his side can pull of the daring feat.

“It was a difficult game, but we took our chances. Victory was ours. It means a lot. It was a great fight. I think we should fight more and push harder. It’s not over,” Nyarko said over the weekend.

His coach, Adelino Julio Batista, backed his charges to maintain their new-found vigour and finish the campaign strongly.

“We’ll just continue to work from here. There’s nothing more to do that is special. In football, whoever is hungrier would have the day. We are hungry, and when you are hungry, you collect points,” said Batista.

That hunger appears to be contagious, as Black Africa, who occupy the third automatic relegation spot, picked up four points to enhance their bid for survival.

The record top-flight champions beat traditional foes Orlando Pirates 2-0 on Saturday, before playing out a goalless stalemate with Tigers on Sunday.

BA are four points adrift of 13th position, which guarantees safety.

“It was a good performance. It was a very important win because we’re in the relegation zone. It was also important because we played Orlando Pirates, a team we don’t want to lose against,” said the Lively Lions’ co-coach Brian Isaacs.

“The position that we’re in means we cannot afford to lose any points or games. It is important for us to be consistent and accumulate as many points as possible to get out of the relegation zone.”

Eleven Arrows complete the relegation zone.

They are a point worse off than BA and managed only a draw this weekend – 2-2 at home to Young Brazilians (YB) on Saturday – before a 3-0 hammering at the hands of African Stars the following day.

Stars moved within four points of claiming league honours despite going down 2-0 to Blue Waters on Saturday.

The leaders are now on 61 points from 24 outings.

With their game in hand, Blue Waters, who also scored four without reply against YB on Sunday, in second can only reach 65 points if they win the remainder of their fixtures.

Starlile, who have a superior goal difference to Omeya, can seal the deal this weekend.

Mighty Gunners in third picked up six points with a 3-0 result against Julinho Sporting, followed by a 1-0 success over mid-table Life fighters, who also drew 1-1 at Okahandja United.

The Okahandja club stayed fourth when they followed that up with a 3-2 beating of Julinho.

After going down 1-0 to Unam on Saturday, Civics bounced back with victory by the same scoreline against Tura Magic the next day, while Pirates ended their dismal weekend with a 4-1 thrashing by Young African.