ZESCO United interim gaffer Emmanuel Siwale was left frustrated after a ‘painful’ loss to Power Dynamos on Wednesday afternoon at Arthur Davies Stadium in a rescheduled week 5 MTN Super League encounter.
Moses Shumah scored the only goal of the game in the eighth minute to hand ZESCO United their third straight loss in the Super League.
Siwale after the match said the loss was painful and it was frustrating that his side failed to hit the back of the net even once throughout the 90 minutes.
Zega Mambo last won a game in the league on 5th October, 5-0 over struggling Mines United at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
“It’s very frustrating, especially where we didn’t put at least one in the net, but this is a painful loss,” he said.
“It’s only that we haven’t gotten a win ever since we qualified to the Group stage. Sometimes this is what you expect because the boys put in all in the calf, forgetting that this is what made us to play the calf. So, as soon as they realise this, then I’m sure we’ll be good to go.”
Siwale however picked positives from a very improved performance in the second half.
“Yeah, especially the second half because we saw what Power Dynamos were doing and we now had to make changes, I’m sure you saw, and this is where we had to, even if we had the chance, I don’t know if I would say luck or what, maybe this is where we would have gotten at least a goal because of the pressure that we put on our colleagues. But the second half was exciting, especially that we are both in the CAF ( Champions League and Confederation Cup) to see where we are, but it’s bad for us because we did not win the game, we lost,” he said.
“It’s what I’m sure they’ve realised. Even when they saw the fixture, you could see the second half where everyone wanted to win or to get a positive result. That is the character that we want, the second half. I’m sure going forward, if we can pick it up from the second half, I’m sure we’ll start posting a positive result.
“No that went because of how the game went. That’s how you sometimes strategize because you have to see what your opponent are doing and then you work on their weakness. So we saw what they were doing and we had to change. We didn’t want to do it there and then. We were waiting for the second half and that’s how you saw us do what we did.”
“It says in terms of what your colleague has just asked me because we saw what they were doing and then we capitalized on that and you could see our colleagues now also trying to counter what we did. But we had already gotten the momentum. What was remaining was a goal. But credit to them because they won the game,” he added.
The Zega Mambo gaffer is worried because his side wants to defend the ABSA Cup but at they are outside the qualification bracket.
“Yeah, it is. It is worrying because that is not where we belong. We have to defend the ABSA, but if we can’t win, how are we going to defend it? Because at the moment, that is one of our targets, the ABSA Cup, because we want it. And if we cannot pull away from the bottom there, it’s not going to be good for the team like ZESCO United.”
“What I would say, yes, that’s a very good question because ZESCO is, I would say, a work in progress. You have seen the young ones and I’m happy that we have been put in that draw, especially for CAF. Because this is where we belong and even the boys, they must make sure they experience that. And I’m sure if we can continue playing in CAF, I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Because these boys, once they get the experience, they mature, then Zesko will move to another level.”
ZESCO United have now lost their last three matches in the MTN Super League and sit 12th on the log table with 10 points from eight games.
