Rundu Chiefs target premier league return

**Zebaldt Ngaruka **

Relegation often forces a painful reset, and Rundu Chiefs have spent the off season tearing down and rebuilding from the ground up.

With new coach Agnus Elemu at the helm and a roster retooled for the grueling demands of the Northern Stream First Division (NSFD) league, the fallen giants are ready to prove their stay in the second tier will be a brief one. Elemu was in charge of African Stars FC when then they were crowned champions last season.

Rundu Chiefs began its bid for promotion with a one-all draw against Rundu Rangers last weekend at their famous Rundu Sports Stadium.

Despite losing key starters over the summer, club officials insist the squad has the depth required to climb straight back to the summit of domestic football. The club chairperson Agripa Haindongo said the team prime aim is to go back to the premier league and the objective will be met.

“We will definitely go back to the top-flight league and we have boosted our team with new players and technical team. We will continue working hard and return,” he said.

The chairperson said he still finds it hard to find out what went wrong last season but football is unpredictable and he got experience players to do the job. On his part, the team head coach Elemu said the first game was not an easy one but accepted the draw.

“We missed seven chances in the first half, three clear ones and we conceded a sort of an own goal. I think being the first game, the players panicked a bit to try and impress. We created another eight chances in the second half,” he said adding that their opponent didn’t even had a shot at goal for 90 minutes.

Building from this, Elemu said the team worked hard in some areas and personnel combinations and it look stronger ahead of the weekend fixtures against Ohangwena Nampol and Unam Rundu Campus.

“We are the team everyone wants to play, every team raise their game playing Rundu Chiefs and I am used with this situation of pressure. I am coming from champions African Stars, also coached FC Ongos and games are like Cup finals,” he said, adding that his boys look sharp and ready to deliver.

Meanwhile, Shifafure Johannes, Rundu Chiefs team captain said dropping points on the league opener should be seen as a wakeup call for the club eyeing premier league return.

“It was a bit frustrating to drop points but we must stand up and do better all the time. We know the standard of getting out of this division, we want to win every single game and promotions campaign to the top league is a marathon,” said Johannes.

The captain added that the team must maintain unbeaten record to reach its objective and this coming weekend fixture must be the turning point. Johannes called on the team supporters to keep rallying behind the team and promised them that the satisfying results will pour soon.

“Thank you for backing us from the first minute until the last one and we will turn the draw into victories this weekend,” he confidently said.

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