Black Africa veteran gaffer Brian Isaacs on Saturday admitted that until the club starts roping in top experienced players with the required premiership calibre, things it will continue to be difficult for the former Namibian champions.
Isaacs made those remarks after Saturday’s 1-6 humiliating defeat at the hands of arch-rivals and Debmarine Namibia Premiership runaway log leaders African Stars at the Unam stadium, which saw Charles Hambira, Awilo Stephanus, Dynamo Fredericks, Salazar Gunzu, Immanuel Heita and Edmar Kamatuka all getting on the score sheet for Stars.
Lleyton Goliath scored Black Africa’s only goal of the match that was mostly dominated by Stars in all facets of the pitch.
In a post-match interview, a clearly disappointed Isaacs blamed the heavy defeat on the lack of experienced players in his squad and said until the club signs players with the required premier league experience and capacity, his job will continue to be difficult.
“I mean when you look at our current squad, we only have about two players with premier league experience as the rest of the boys are still young and lack the required experience to compete at this level. It is very difficult for one to compete with a team of African Stars calibre with the kind of squad I have. We played against a team that has all the national team players in it and us conceding an early goal also demoralised the players. We need to bring in players with experience in order to turn things around, otherwise my job will continue to be very tough,” said Isaacs.
Meanwhile, African Stars head coach Mervin Mbakera said collecting three on the day was crucial for them in their march towards the league title.
“On a derby day form is always out of the window and we made sure that we got on the score sheet as early as possible. I must give credit to the players who were very technical and capitalised on most of our chances today. I must also give credit to the team behind the team for always making sure everything is in place and that pushes the players to give their all. We have the medical department, football director and management; that support is immense and I should credit them,” he said.
He continued: “We knew coming into this match that we needed to collect maximum points, as we have ambitions to win the league and to win the league, one should accumulate points and today we did just that. We knew it was going to be tough but we followed our game plan.”
It was also a good day in the office for Civics, who on Saturday defeated Tigers 2-1 at the SKW stadium in the capital. Civics coach Jeremy Zimmer praised his charges for putting up a great performance and earning a well-deserved win.
“We fought hard and I believe we deserved the maximum points today. The boys came to the party as we had to come from behind to collect those points, which I say was a well-deserved victory,” he said.
In other matches played on Saturday, Mighty Gunners lost 1-0 to Blue Waters while Young Brazilians shocked Young African with a 1-0 win. High-flying Okahandja United beat coastal outfit Eleven Arrows 3-1. Orlando Pirates defeated Citizens 4-2.
Results |
Saturday, 11 February
Mighty Gunners 0-1 Blue Waters
Tigers 1-2 Civics
Young African 0-1 Young Brazilians
Okahandja United 3-1 Eleven Arrows
Black Africa 1-6 African Stars
Orlando Pirates 4-2 Citizens