Unam’s men’s team closed in on a fifth consecutive Premier League title after beating Wanderers 4-3 on Sunday, but their victory was spoiled by the dismissal of star striker Siabonga Martins. In an ill tempered match, Martins was sent off early in the second half after retaliating to a foul by Billy Beukes and hitting him with his stick. Martins was sent off which means that he will miss the rest of the season after picking up an automatic three match ban. It could even be more, since the Namibia Hockey Union will now hold a disciplinary meeting to decide if an extra punishment is necessary.
Besides Martins’ dismissal, both teams’ captains Erwin Handura and Riaan Kruger were sin binned for foul play as well as Unam midfielder Zebald Njarakana.
Despite being a man down, Unam rose to the occasion with a great performance.
Dunstan Haufiku put them ahead after a goalmouth scramble while Heini Swartbooi added the second shortly after halftime.
Unam went 3-0 ahead after a great counter attack that started in their own half, before Swartbooi set up Haufiku for his second goal.
At the other end, Unam keeper Stanley Witbooi had a great match, pulling off some great saves, but he was finally beaten when Wanderers won a penalty for an infringement and Ettienne de Villiers scored from the spot.
Wanderers upped the tempo and laid siege to Unam’s goals but Swartbooi defended superbly to keep them at bay.
Unam survived the onslaught and increased their lead to 4-1 through a great goal by Joseph Kashamako, when he slammed a rebound into the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Wanderer attacked relentlessly in the final stages and goals by Riaan Kruger and Freddie Hanekom brought them right back into the game, but Unam held out for victory.
On Saturday, Unam suffered their first defeat of the season, going down 2-1 to DTS.
Siabonga Martins put Unam ahead in the first half through a penalty, but DTS came back strongly and second half goals by Leonard Fick and a great deflected goal by Wayne van der Linde gave them a memorable victory.
In another match on Saturday, Windhoek Old Boys ran riot against bottom of the log Polytechnic to win their encounter 16-1.
With Penda Namundjebo, Ruben Engel and Trevor Cormack in great form, WOB attacked from the onset and were already leading 8-1 at the break. Cormack led the way with four goals, while Ruben Engel and Lev Whittaker each scored a hattrick.
Unam now lead Wanderers by five points, and with only two matches to play are virtually assured of retaining their title. Mathematically, Wanderers and DTS can still catch them, but that would mean that Unam will have to lose their last two matches – including one against Polytechnic which is highly unlikely.
WOB, who already won the women’s league after winning their first four matches in a row, suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday against DTS.
Andrea Beiter scored the solitary goal after a goalmouth scramble midway through the first half.