Kabwe Warriors head coach George Chilufya blamed his side’s capitulation in their 2026 ABSA Cup round of 16 encounter against Chirundu United on defensive lapses.
The Magnificent People’s team threw away a 2-0 lead to bow out 4-3 via a penalty shoot out after a 2-2 draw.
“If you heard what their coach said before the game, he mentioned there’s not much difference between a National League side and an MTN Super League team in terms of quality. But for any coach, it’s always difficult to accept such a defeat especially when you were leading 2-0,” he said.
“Just after the break, we gave away very cheap goals and unfortunately conceded again. When we let in the first one, we started playing under pressure. That’s the nature of football and we didn’t defend well.”
“Football being what it is, we just have to accept defeat. We still have the MTN Super League to concentrate on. It’s difficult, yes, but we have to move on.”
“Football is sometimes psychological. Even their coach said he didn’t know much about us. That was just mind games. We had information about them, and they had information about us. Both teams had game plans. Ours worked in the first half, but unfortunately we didn’t manage the game well in the end and we lost.”
Humphrey Bwembya and Saith Sakala scored a goal each as Kabwe Warriors went ahead in the first half.
But second half goals from Kuna Chabala and Godfrey Chinga forced the match to penalties where goalkeeper Stacial Kangwa was the hero saving two post kicks.
