Bola yapa Zed drama reached the peak on Saturday afternoon following four week-eight fixtures coming to life with two being played on the Copperbelt, one in Lusaka and one in Kafue of Lusaka Province.
The early kick fixture saw Zesco United take to the ground with correct not so correctional Prison Leopards. It took a long for Zesco United to settle into the match. Prison Leopards had a better share of the ball in the first twenty minutes as they found the back of the net in the 14th minute through Tshite Mweshi following a good build-up play only for the center man Audrey Nkole to wrongly rule it as an offside and it served as a catalyst to Zesco United who upped the tempo.
In the 29th minute, Zesco United was awarded a corner which Kelvin Kampamba lowly played to John Ching’andu who lashed a shot at goal for Prison leopards keeper Charise Kalumba to parry it over to Donashamo Malama to fire a one-touch shot to give Zesco the lead in the 25th minute.
With Prison Leopards continuing to commit many men upfront it paid off as they were awarded a penalty in the 33rd minutes when Zesco united goal custodian Ian Otieno was wrongly judged to have brought down David Obash who was charging on goal from the left side in the eighteen-yard box when in fact he made no contact with him.
Landu Miete stepped up for the spot-kick which Otieno got right as he made a save but the linesman raised his flag for judging Otieno to have stepped off the line early before the ball was kicked.
Landu had to retake the penalty which he scored but unfortunately, the referee disallowed it following an encroachment from Prison Leopards player when the penalty was being retaken and Zesco United was awarded a free-kick.
Despite dominating the game, Prison Leopards finished the first half a goal down. In the second, Mwenya Chipepo made his first substitution as he introduced a striker for a midfielder. Prince Chipota was brought in for Rodwell Yolamu in the 46th minute which resulted in Zesco United feeling the pressure forcing them to introduce a defensive midfielder for a striker when they substituted Jesse Were for Samuel Sikaonga with the hope of soaking pressure in the midfield which was dominated by prison Leopards.
The 58th minute saw Landu who was wasteful infront of the goal miss another seater when Otieno the Zesco united goalie failed to command his line well.
After seeing changes in the middle of the pack following an introduction of Sikaonga who helped Zesco United regain shape, Numba Mumamba wanted to replicate the same form even in attack as he made another substitution in the 61st minute bringing in fresh legs of Enock Sabumukama for John Ching’andu a like for like change but before this, Prison Leopards removed the creator of the first half penalty David Obash for Omari Kipuku
Zesco United started bullying Prison Leopards with Kelvin Mubanga Kampamba playing the main role as he provided a delicious cross in the 70th minute with tapping from John Mark Makwatta the only the thing which was needed just only for him to hesitate to meet the ball as he thought the Prison Leopard defender will clear it. Such scenes didn’t go well in the eyes of Mwenya Chipepo who made another change by bringing in Patrick Kasongo for Dumisani Mwanza in the 76th minute.
In the closing stages, John Makwata was provided with a golden chance to put the game to bed when he managed to get past the prison Leopard defender only to see his close-range shot saved by Kalumba in the 91st minute.
Zesco United promising enterprising striker Enock Sakala jr was kept in the pockets of 34-year-old Shadreck Banda who made sure he saw little of the ball the entire 90 minutes.
Prison leopard’s David Obash, Landu Miete, and Tshiete Mweshi were guilty of not utilizing the chances their team created. They were always at fault for breaking down their team’s attack
The Mwenya Chipepo tutored side was good the whole game and dominated the midfield only to fail in the final third.
Despite picking up maximum points, Zesco United was unimpressive with Donashano Malama who emerged as the man of the match acknowledging that fact.
The win which is the fourth this season for the Ndola outfit side has sailed them to the top of the table with fourteen points following Zanaco’s loss to Buildcon.
Prison Leopards drop from 9th position to 10th with eight points to their name.
