Cosmos have high hopes for Ananias

Sibongiseni Gumbi

His countryman and namesake Ananias Mathe became a wellknown figure after once escaping from one of the country’s top security prisons but Jomo Cosmos hope Gebhardt Ananias will help their team escape the sadness of possibly not making at least the promotion play-offs this season.

There was however nothing the Namibian could do to help Ezenkosi at the weekend as they fell to their second defeat in three matches and slipped down on the National First Division standings to third.

They lost 1-0 to Uthongathi FC, with Siyabonga Vilane the hero with the all-important goal.

But Gebhart remains adamant the team can still carry their mandate of at least qualifying for the play-offs by the end of the season.

“As usual we created a number of chances but couldn’t put any away. It’s not looking good because we only got a point in our last three matches, but so long as we remain in the chasing pack, we can achieve our objective at the end of the season,” he said.

With Cosmos dropping points yet again, Real Kings used the opportunity to climb up to second and are now six points behind leaders Highlands Park.

The Magic Boys’ coach Simo Dladla said they now need to keep their rhythm and keep picking up the points.

“It’s important to keep it going. We have to ensure we win all our home games now. We will try and win away as well but if we can always get a point we will be happy,” said Dladla yesterday.

With 12 games to go, Mthatha Bucks and Ubuntu Cape Town bosses must be worried that their teams will not make it out of the relegation places if things don’t change for the better soon. Mthatha fell victims to a Stellenbosch side who had not won a match in weeks as they were beaten 2-1 and remain bottom of the standings with just 15 points.

Ubuntu are a point above Amathol’amnyama and also suffered a blow as an unrelenting Highlands beat them 3-0.