Sensational Zanaco ‘cash in’ on Zesco United as barren draws highlight Wednesday fixtures
The drama of the 2020/2021 Zambia Super League continued on Wednesday afternoon with four matches taking center stage withSensational Zanaco hosting Zesco United in the headline fixture of the afternoon.
Numba Mumamba returned to Sunset Stadium for the first time after he was let go earlier this year.
The early stages of the match saw the two teams respecting each other. Sensational Zanaco were the first to strike just ten minutes into the match as Moses Phiri produced a moment of magic getting on the end of a Baba Basile pinpoint cross with a half scissors finish to put the Bankers in the lead.
Zesco United immediately reorganized and thought they had equalized in the 44th minute when Clement Mwape headed in a well-delivered free-kick but the referee ruled it out for offside.
Seven minutes into the second half Baba Basile doubled the Bankers lead after getting on a beautiful ball from midfield to slot home his first goal in Zanaco colors. The Cameroonian could have added a third minutes later but a beautiful save from Ian Otieno made sure the scoreline remained 2-0.
Second-half substitute, Roger Kola benefited from a lapse in defense by Clement Mwape to slot home a third with a powerful low drive. Kelvin Mubanga Kampamba produced another one of his spectacular strikes from outside the area to pull one back for Zesco United although a little bit too late as Zanaco went on to win the match 3-1.
Zesco United boss Numba Mumamba feels his team gave Zanaco a lot of space in the first half and made a few costly mistakes in the first half.
“It’s a disappointing result on our part, we gave Zanaco too much space especially in the early stages of the match that resulted in the first goal we could not pick our opponents in the box. We made a few mistakes that led us to concede those three goals, As we get back in training we have to rectify the lapses we have seen in this game especially in defense we did not do well today but the overall performance not very bad,” he said.
Zanaco boss Chris Kaunda said his team wanted to make up for the mistakes they made against Nkana in the 1-1 draw last weekend.
“After playing Nkana, The boys were trying to do everything we had planned, They thought the right thing to do is not just coming on the pitch and playing around with the ball, We had to correct the mistakes we made against Nkana. We talked to the players individually on Tuesday, ” he said.
In the early kick-off at the same venue, former Chipolopolo Boys forward James Chamanga missed a penalty as wasteful Red Arrows played to a goalless draw with an impressive Indeni side.
In Kabwe, Lusaka Dynamos run of draws continued as they played to a barren draw with Kabwe Warriors.
Lumwana Radiants and Young Green Eagles as well as Nkwazi and Kitwe United also played to goalless draws.
The major move on the table sees Zanaco move to second place while Red Arrows drop to fifth and Zesco further down to seventh place.
ZAMBIAN SUPER LEAGUE WEEK 5 FULL-TIME RESULTS| Wednesday 25th November 2020
Compiled by the ZamFoot Crew
Zanaco3-1 Zesco United
(M. Phiri 10′, B. Basile 52′ R. Kola 83’| K.K. Mubanga 89′)
Kabwe Warriors 0-0 Lusaka Dynamos
Kitwe United 0-0 Nkwazi
Lumwana Radiants 0-0 Young Green Eagles