The X Team from Walvis Bay had a great weekend in the Telecom Namibia Indoor Hockey Men’s Premier League after beating Wanderers and drawing to DTS in Windhoek.
On Saturday afternoon they staged a fine comeback to beat Wanderers 4-3 after trailing 2-1 at halftime.
Wanderers attacked from the start and seemed to be in control when they took a 2-0 lead midway through the first half through goals by Stefan du Preez and Francois Fuscher.
But the youthful X Team were awarded a penalty for an infringement in the box and their Under 18 national player Dewald Coetzee succeeded from the spot to make the halftime score 2-1.
Ettienne de Villiers increased Wanderers’ lead to 3-1 early in the second half, but that’s as good as it got for the home team as the X Team staged a great comeback.
Shaun Binneman made it 3-2 from a penalty corner and then two goals in two minutes by Dewald Coetzee completed a remarkable turnaround as they ran out 4-3 victors.
Against DTS, the X Team once again staged a great fightback to force a draw after trailing 4-2 with two minutes to go.
In an action-packed match, Wayne van der Linde gave DTS the lead but Franken Otto pulled a goal back to tie the score at 1-1 at halftime.
Anathi Hans restored DTS’s lead early in the second half but Dewald Coetzee once again equalised for the X Team.
DTS upped the tempo and short corner goals by Luke Bolton and Sedric Makati gave them a 4-2 lead.
The X Team were not done though and launched a great comeback. With a minute to go, Binneman scored from a short corner, and then from the restart, they immediately attacked again for Dewald Coetzee to score a last gasp equaliser.
The X Team now move up to second position on the log on 5 points, although they are still well behind log leaders Unam who are on 12 points from three matches.
In the only Women’s Premier League match on Saturday, Wanderers beat Unam 2-0 through goals by Juanne Louw and Maike Prickett.
It was Wanderers’ first win of the season,while Unam have now suffered two defeats in a row. DTS still lead the Women’s Premier League after winning their opening two matches.