Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek-Katutura giants African Stars maintained their lead atop the MTC Namibia Premier League (NPL) log standing with two convincing wins over Rundu Chiefs and Mighty Gunners, with Stars’ inspirational skipper, Pat-Nevin Uanivi, saying the victories were the result of hard work and a perfect display of character.
In a brief interview with New Era Sport after yesterday’s 2-1 win over Mighty Gunners at Otjiwarongo’s Paresis Stadium, Uanivi described the victory as a “hard-fought win”, as they had to come from behind to overpower Otjiwarongo-based Gunners, who enjoyed great home ground advantage.
On Saturday, Stars recorded another much-needed away victory against Rundu Chiefs in a thrilling clash played at the town’s sport stadium, beating the home team 2-1. After six rounds of matches in the country’s topflight league, Stars remain unbeaten and with this weekend’s wins over Gunners and Chiefs, they remain top of the log with 18 points.
Stars have been impressively consistent since the start of the current term, showing great maturity and good teamwork in most of their matches – and their depth is equally visible.
Touching on the team’s performance, especially their consistency, Uanivi said: “To be quite honest, it has not been easy for us to record all those wins and remain consistent at the same time, but through hard work and great coordination among ourselves as players, we have managed to fight on.
“Today’s (Sunday’s) win over Gunners was a tough battle, as we were forced to fight much harder to come from behind and collect all six points. So, to us as a team, our perfect run has been all about hard work, teamwork, discipline and showing character when it’s most needed.”