A well-taken brace by Tigers' flying winger Ananias Gebhardt and a goal apiece via the boots of Sadney Uri-Khob and Neville Tjiueza propelled the

Brave Warriors to the knockout stage of the COSAFA Cup Zambia 2013 following a 4-2 walloping of gutsy Seychelles at the Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka yesterday.

Needing a win to secure a mouthwatering clash with big brother South Africa's Bafana Bafana in the next round on Saturday - Ricardo Mannetti's fired-up charges started the match like a house on fire and enjoyed the lion's share of ball possession as they stroke the ball at will to such an extent that had it been a boxing bout the referee would have been obliged to end the contest on a TKO.

Despite their dominance, the Namibians found themselves a goal behind when towering dreadlocked striker Yves Zialor was left unmarked in the danger zone to place a header neatly into the back of the net - leaving goalkeeper Virgil Vries stranded after some poor marking by the Warriors twin centre backs.

The goal seemed to awaken the wasteful Warriors who missed clear-cut goal scoring chances with striker Sadney Uri-Khob the chief culprit but the Amazulu bound speed machine redeemed himself when he latched onto a long pass evading a tackle from a Seychelles defender before sidestepping the goalkeeper to score from an acute angle.

In football terms, Uri-Khob had absolutely no right to score from that angle but the goal stood and gifted the Warriors more impetus to surge forward with inspirational midfielder Petrus 'Dancing Shoes' Shitembi pulling the strings in the middle of the park.

Namibia were always in control and during one of its many forays - the ball fell to overlapping fullback Freedom Puriza, who delivered a tantalizing cross into the danger zone. Ananias rose above the static defence and headed in to give the Warriors the lead for the first time of the match 2-1.

However, the lead was short-lived as a goalkeeping howler by Vries gifted the Indian Ocean islanders a glimmer of hope when the Namibian shot stopper failed to clear a harmless looking ball - allowing Zialor enough space and time to pass the ball into an empty net (2-2).

Uri-Khob wasted another good chance when he ballooned the ball into the stands after a defence splitting pass from Shitembi. Ananias netted his second from close range - getting to the end of Pineas Jacob's inviting cross to make it 3-1 with Julies Monnaie catching flies - a minute after the break.

With time ticking by and Sechelles threatening to pull off a miracle, Mannetti acted quickly and dispatched Awilo Stephanus in place of Jacob. The Warriors continued to create numerous goal-scoring chances but wayward shooting and indiscretion proved to be the order of the day with substitute Harald Ochurub missing the target from a few metres out when it was easier to score than to miss after being teed up by Tjiueza.

Burly midfielder Tjiueza put the result to bed in the dying minutes of the match after he picked up a loose ball and let rap with a cracking right footer that kissed the roof of the net to all but end the contest (4-2). Ananias was voted man of the match.

Warriors starting lineup: Virgil Vries, Larry Horaeb, Dacosta Angula (capt) Dudes Mwedihanga, Freedom Puriza, Denzil Haoseb (Emilio Martin), Neville Tjiueza, Petrus Shitembi, Ananias Gebhardt, Pineas Jacob (Awilo Stephanus) and Sadney Uri-Khob (Harold Ochurub).