Disapointing defeat in maiden NFA Cup game

On Saturday 23 January we travelled to Grootfontein to compete in the leo NFA Cup Preliminaries. We were drawn against Air Masters from Grootfontein, who are currently one position under us in the log.

All was quite chaotic when we arrived at Omalunga Stadium, with the field not ready yet as primary problem. The kick-off was delayed for 1 and half hours eventually, with some questionable marking of the field.

Our boys started the game off pretty well and the eraly chances were on our side. However Air Masters started to get into the game better, as the OFC team did not competitivly compete for the balls. In the 20th minute a deflected free kick landed in the back of the net, putting Air Masters one up.

However our boys fighted back immediatly with Jesse Janzte fireing a blistering shot from 25m, which was just over the bar. Shortly afterwards we were awared a free kick. Wesley Ngazekarie executed this brilliantly, with the ball going into the top left corner to equal it out.

After this it was all Air Masters, who could have scored at least 2 - 3 goals more in the first half, but Terry Ujamba in the central defense did a good job to prevent this.

 The second half started pretty well for us and we seemed to be in control. Wesley Ngazekarie almost put us ahead, but he missed the empty net. The next 10 minutes it seemed that we might score at any time, but fortunes turned with Air Masters coming from the left, scoring the 2-1.

As we opened up to get the equalizer a break through the middle resulted in Air Masters 3-1. At this stage it seemed that Air Masters might just score more as there was no more tactical discipline seen anymore from our boys. To make things worse Edward Moova, the OFC Keeper, hesitated to come out for a ball and eventually fouled the Air Masters striker, which resulted in a very harsh red card for him. A yellow card would have been enough for that offence. However the refereeing for the match was very well done.

10 minutes from time Matheus Shatiwa was fouled on the edge of the box. A nice setpiece move then put Beajamin Oxurub clear who scored the 3-2, which was the final score.

Log leaders African Lions advanced to the next stages of the NFA Cup by beating Golden Fire by 2-1 in the final.