Africa-Press – Namibia. DEFENDING champions Saints started the Bank Windhoek Indoor Hockey Men’s Premier League season off with a bang with a 9-1 victory against School of Excellence on Saturday.
School of Excellence managed to contain Saints to a 3-1 lead at half time, but Saints stepped up the tempo after the break to post a comprehensive victory.
Saints’ national striker Fagan Hansen led the way with five goals, while Christiaan du Raan added two, and Joseph van Niekerk and Thomas Theron one goal each. Delron Handura scored SoE’s solitary goal.
Despite the defeat SoE defended well, except for a spell in the third quarter when they conceded five goals in five minutes, and with a young and energetic team, they could still pull off some upsets this season.
Saints, however, were on another level, and showed that they will not easily concede their title this season, but their coach Christo du Raan was gracious in victory.
“I think it was a reasonably good performance for the first game of the season – one could see that the guys are still a bit rusty, but all in all it was a good performance from both sides. The School of Excellence are getting more and more competitive each year, so kudus to them, but although it was a bit scrappy, I’m satisfied and we got the score that we wanted,” he said.
Du Raan said they were determined to retain the title although it would not be easy.
“We are a winning team, we like to win and it’s in our DNA to play the game of hickey to the best of our ability, but we also know it’s going to be a tough one this season. Our team is reasonably young, and the other teams are all improving, and like always, we’ve got a target on our back, but we’ll try and defend it,” he said.
All the other scheduled Premier League matches were postponed due to the unavailability of venues, but several Premier Reserve League and First League matches took place at the Windhoek Showgrounds and at the Swakopmund Dome.
In the Men’s Premier Reserve League, Saints also got off to a flying start with a 8-0 victory against Wanderers, but Wanderers’ women’s team got the better of Saints with a 3-1 victory in the Women’s Premier Reserve League.
Wanderers’ player coach Maryke Riley said it was a good start to the season.
“It went quite well – there were good and bad aspects, and some things we can work on for the season, but I think it was a good start to the season. It was a tight game and Saints are always a hard team to beat, but I’m very proud of the girls for pushing it through and working hard,” she said.
“We’ve been working hard for the past month, so I think we will be competitive, we just need to believe in ourselves and that we can do it. We are working hard together as a team, the team dynamic is very good, and the girls are starting to gel,” she added.
Wanderers’ men and women’s teams have been struggling especially in the Premier League in recent seasons, but Riley said they were approaching the new season in confident mood.
“We’ve got a few players back from university, so the ladies are keeping up, and we’ve also got some new players in the men’s team, so I think Wanderers is not just there to compete this year – we are here to actually win,” she said.
In another men’s Premier Reserve League match, Coastal Raiders beat Sparta 6-5, while in the Men’s First Division, DTS beat Wanderers 4-0, and Sparta beat Coastal Raiders 3-2.
In the Women’s First Division, Sparta and Coastal Raiders drew 2-2, while Sparta beat Coastal Raiders II 5-2.
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