MUKWIMA CHILALA writes
ZANACO are still confident that they can take part in continental football by beating Prison Leopards.
“Of course, we still have another chance to play continental, all we need to do is just to win the last game against Prison Leopards at home,” says Zanaco coach Numba Mumamba.
The Zanaco coach said in an interview after his team’s one all away draw to Mufulira Wanderers on Saturday, that not all hope was lost despite having suffered a setback at Wanderers.
Numba still believes that his team still has an outside chance to sneak into the top two.
Zanaco failed to capitalize on their early lead on when they scored through in-form striker Chitiya Mususu in the 15 minute but their slender lead was later curtailed by their former player Kwame Attram who equalized in the 56 minute.
Numba however refused to blame goalkeeper, Toaster Nsabata for his error that handed Mufulira Wanderers an equalizer to give the home side a life line in their quest for survival.
“I must say that, the overall performance of the team was very good. I am very much impressed with the application of each and every player, but I think the goalkeeper made a mistake which is acceptable in football,’’ he said.
“Such mistakes occur especially when the ball bounces down. It is very difficult to hold such a ball, we can’t put the blame on him, we just have to accept the result and move on,” he said.
The draw against Wanderers has left Zanaco in third place on the log in stream A of the transitional league with 30 points after 17 games played.
The bankers will be hoping to beat Prison Leopards in their last game of the season if they are to have any chance of a top two spot in their stream.
Prison Leopards too will be hoping to collect maximum points off Zanaco if they are to have any meaningful chance of avoiding relegation as they are in position number 9 on 12 points.
Zanaco has recorded 9 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses while Leopards have only recorded 2 wins, 6 draws and 9 losses out of the 17 games played so far in the league.
The top slots in each stream will qualify to the newly restructured ABSA cup while the top two in each stream qualifies to the four continental slots allocated to Zambia.
