UNITED FAIL TO BREAK EAGLES AGAIN

Zambian league giants ZESCO United this afternoon settled for a barren draw against Green Eagles in the MTN Super League week four fixture played at the Independence stadium, Choma.

The Ndola based side came into today’s match determined to alter the past narrative which has seen them fail to beat Eagles in Choma in the last five meetings.

ZESCO United last beat Eagles in 2016 courtesy of a Mwape Mwelwa goal.

Green Eagles were lucky not to concede in the first 15’ minutes of the game after waves of counter attacking football from the visitors.

Kelvin Kampamba came close to putting the visitors in the lead with a long range shot that Kelvin Mwaanga could only parry for a corner.

A 10’ minute long range free kick from Kampamba proved too mouthful for Mwaanga to handle only for the Eagles shot stopper to deflect the ball for another corner.

ZESCO United dominated much of the proceedings in the first half which unfortunately could not yield any goal.

The hosts only came close to scoring in the 35’ minute after Amity Shamendes header went over the bar.

Green Eagles were the happier side to hear the halftime whistle after a sweltering half of defensive football.

ZESCO United started the second half gunning for an opener after a frustrating first half.

Collins Sikombe saw his long-range shot go over the bar after some fine interchange of passes between Kizito, Mukuka and Kampamba.

The hosts grew into the game and almost snatched a goal in the 52’ minute only for Otieno to save Hosea Silwimba’s close range header.

Eagles were again denied by Otieno after Silwimba saw his 57’ minute close range shot saved by the Kenyan.

ZESCO United’s spotless effort on target came in the 71’ after Kampamba’s sumptuous corner was missed by the entire Eagles defense with Sakala only needing a touch to score but the latter wasted the opportunity.

The Zambian National Service sponsored side stood their grounds with some fine defending which kept the ZESCO United strikers at bay througout the entire 90’ minutes.

In his prematch comments, Mumamba Numba urged his side to rewrite the past jinx by beating Green Eagles at their own turf.

Numba however, was delighted to walkaway with a point in a match that his side dominated play in most parts of the 90’ minutes.

“We are not disappointed with the result because this is a game that we controlled and dominated play, unfortunately we couldn’t get the result we wanted here. We are happy with the way the boys played.

“Our mission was to beat Eagles away from home. It is clear from this game that the team is settling down and showing great character. A point away from home is better than nothing especially when you look at the quality of the opposition and their past record against us.”

The ZESCO United gaffer has urged his side to be more clinical on target.

“We need to improve on our finishing. We are creating chances in most of our games, but we are failing to score. This is something that we need to work on in order to win games.”

Author: Desmond Katongo