Battle between Old Boys and Saints intensifies

NDN Staffer

WINDHOEK, Mar. 16 -The Bank Windhoek Indoor Hockey Premier League ended its sixth round over the weekend in Windhoek.

Windhoek Old Boys Club (WOBSC) Mad Maroons (MM) currently stand a point clear of second placed Saints 1 in the Men’s Premier League. In the Women’s Premier League, Saints are at the summit of the log with a comfortable five points lead.

Men’s Premier League
Friday night saw Mad Maroons play Saints 2 in a must win bonus point game for Mad Maroons who received three yellow cards during the game. They managed to score five of their six goals while just having four players on the field and managed to secure a comfortable win of 6-1. De Villiers, McCullough, Martins, Finch, Krugel and Kruger all scored for their team.

At the same event WOBSC Burgundy Bullets (WOBSC BB) took on Saints 2. The young Saints side dominated the game and managed to win with a final score of 5-1. Nevil Gora scored twice to lead his team to victory.
On Saturday, the Burgundy Bullets played BDO Wanderers who won the match 3-0. Stefan du Preez scored all the goals for Wanderers.

The main game of the weekend was Saints 1 against UNAM. As expected, it was a gruelling game for both sides. Saints capitalised on their youthfulness and speed and secured the win in the first half with goals from Schutz, Hansen and Semedo. Saints secured a 3-0 win.

Mad Maroons played against NUST on Saturday in a one sided affair. The current Premier League Champions calmly went about their business and made sure to secure a bonus point with an 8-0 victory. NUST’s Siyabonga Martins scored a treble to help his side to victory.

The final men’s game saw NUST challenge DTS. The red machine was, as expected, too powerful for the brave students. DTS were comfortable winners with an 8-1 score with Britz and Bolton getting two goals each for DTS.

Mad Maroons played their third game to conclude a busy weekend for the championship, when they faced BDO Wanderers. The Old Boys club proved too strong and sailed to victory with 3-1.

Sunday morning saw NUST play Saints 1. The Saints men team knew they had to ensure victory with a wide enough margin to keep up with the bigger clubs. They did exactly that and completely overran the NUST team with 14 unanswered goals. The top scorer for Saints 1 was Cody van der Merwe with four goals.

Women’s Premier League
The first game on Saturday was between BDO Wanderers and UNAM. All eyes were on UNAM to see how they would cope without captain Maggy Mengo. The game ended in a draw 1-1. Chadzinya scored for UNAM and Prickett for BDO Wanderers.
WOBSC looked to bag their first win of the season when they played against NUST. Returning Marcia Venter, gave the team a big boost as they took control early and never lost their momentum. WOBSC took the game 10-0. Marcia Venter showed her talent with five goals.

UNAM were looking to maintain their winning start to the season when they played DTS on Saturday afternoon. UNAM, even without captain Maggy Mengo, was still too strong for the young DTS side, and won the game 2-0.

The final women’s game for Saturday was between NUST and DTS. It was a tight game at times but the young DTS side eventually took control of the game in the second half, beating NUST 4-1. Steenkamp and Lambert each scored twice for DTS.

Saturday evening saw the WOBSC women play BDO Wanderers. WOBSC had a number of returning players who did not feature in the first game of the weekend.

This gave them some much needed experience and momentum. WOBSC put the hammer down to beat BDO Wanderers 9-0. Marcia Venter once again showed her class by scoring six goals.

Saints played UNAM on Sunday in a top of the log clash, and the winner being the number one contender for the League. UNAM struggled against DTS and BDO Wanderers and had to win to keep up the pace. Having to play a third game without captain Mengo left a telling vacuum in the side as the scoreboard reflected a loss of 4-1 for UNAM. Rossouw, Ludwig, Gillies and Philander all scored to seal the victory for Saints.

Early Sunday morning Angels took on WOBSC who has had a difficult start to the season, with many of their first team regulars away. With the rebuilding process underway, the team still needs time to become a cohesive unit. This was clearly visible with Angels dominating the game and beating WOBSC 4-1. Scoring for the Angels were Barnard, Van Rooyen, Finch and Myburgh.

The final match on Sunday saw Angels play NUST. The NUST women have been struggling, compared to the start they had last year, and were still searching for their first victory of 2018. NUST started the game like a house on fire, and scored two goals early in the first half against the run of play. Angels fought back and scored two goals of their own to level the score. However, NUST forward Brenda Limar scored the goal in the 39th minute that would see NUST deliver the first upset of the season to beat Angels 3-2.

The next games for the Premier, First and Second Leagues will take place this coming weekend at Wanderers, DTS indoor hockey fields in Windhoek and The Dome in Swakopmund.

Men’s League Table

Women’s League Table