Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA’s women finished sixth out of eight teams and the men seventh out of seven at the Afcon hockey championships which were completed in Accra, Ghana yesterday.
The women yesterday went down 1-0 to Nigeria in a hard-fought encounter in the fifth place play-off. Nigeria’s captain Alfa John scored the winner just before half time when she deflected a cross into the back of the net, but they dominated possession and could have scored more goals had it not been for some good defending by Namibia.
Namibia applied some early pressure, but the momentum gradually swung to Nigeria, with Queen Esther Njoku and Folarin Adeyemo putting in some strong attacks from the wings.
Nigeria started winning some short corners and after some saves by Namibian keeper Maxi Smith, Namibia’s defence finally wilted when John finished off an attack by Njoku just before half time.
Namibia won two successive short corners early in the third quarter, but they could not capitalise and Nigeria nearly caught them on the break, with counter-attacks by Njoku and Comfort Saturday being cleared by Smith.
Namibia won a short corner early in the fourth quarter, but wasted their chance, while some speculative efforts in the final stages hardly troubled the Nigerian defence, as they held on for a 1-0 victory. Namibian coach Melissa Gillies said she was proud of her team’s effort.
“It was an incredible effort, the girls wanted to win really badly, so they went out with guns blazing and it was probably their best start to a game for the whole tournament and I was so impressed with their energy and the way they were moving the ball, but the Nigerian ladies were fast and feisty and they just didn’t stop running for 60 minutes,” she said.
“I’m very proud of our girls, they fought right to the end and I think we finished with probably one of the best chukkas as well. We were not just trying to defend, we were actually going forward and trying to score and we nearly did so in the last second of the game, so I’m proud of their effort,” she added.
On Friday, Namibia beat Zambia 3-2 after a thrilling penalty shoot out to qualify for the fifth place play-off. Namibia seemed to be heading for victory when they took a 2-0 lead early in the third chukka, but Zambia made a great comeback scoring two goals in the final quarter to force the penalty shootout.
Here Joane van Rooyen, Tara Myburgh and Tisha Semedo found the net, while Namibian keeper Maxi Smith brought off three saves to seal a 3-2 victory. Namibia’s men, meanwhile, lost a close encounter 3-2 to Uganda to finish seventh out of seven teams in the men’s competition.
Uganda applied the early pressure and took a 2-0 after an early brace by Thomas Opio. Namibia however opened their account when Dian La Cock scored from a short corner just before half time.
Uganda struck back with another goal by Collins Batusta early in the third chukka, but La Cock once again reduced the deficit to 3-2 when he scored from a penalty on 39 minutes. Namibia pushed hard in the final quarter, but they could not capitalise, as Uganda held on for the win.
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