Zebaldt Ngaruka 

Rehoboth-based team Friends FC suffered their first beating of the season after going down 2-0 at the hands of Orlando Pirates in the Southern Stream First Division League (SSFDL) at Rehoboth Stadium on Sunday.

However, Friends FC is still comfortably sitting on top of the SSFDL log with 19 points from seven games played. 

Manfred Boeties Swartbooi said the players were overconfident, hence the loss.

“Their heads were in the clouds. They believed that they were unbeatable, and now they must have learned from the pain. We will now use this experience to prepare for the coastal games this coming weekend,” Swartbooi said.

Asked what went wrong, the head coach said his team failed to capitalise on their chances.

Swartbooi added that Orlando Pirates also have a strong support base in Rehoboth, which put the officials under pressure to some “biased decisions”. “We started slowly and gave Pirates the game. We know that it will be hostile, so we will go full out. We will go for the maximum points this coming weekend,” he said.

Another highlight of the weekend in the SSFDL was the bottom-of-the-table Oranjemund FC, who recorded their first win of the campaign after overcoming Black Africa 2-1 on Saturday, and defeated Ramblers with the same scoreline on Sunday to collect maximum points in the league. Amongst other matches played over the weekend, Ramblers stunned Date Eleven 1-0, while Mariental SC and Blue Birds played to a one-all stalemate at Mariental Stadium. The match between Try Again FC and Eleven Arrows ended in a draw after each side scored once, whereas Orlando Pirates saw off Latinos FC by a solitary goal to nil. 

On Sunday, Blue Birds crushed Try Again FC 2-0 in the early fixture, whereas the Mariental SC and Eleven Arrows shared the spoils with a goal apiece.  Namibia’s historic club Black Africa suffered another defeat at the hands of Date Eleven by a 2-1 scoreline to move to the bottom of the log. -zngaruka@yahoo.com