CHIYANGI

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA-
MTN-FAZ Premier Division League champions, Nkana will today begin unbundling a backlog of their unplayed games with a mouth-watering Week five clash against leaders, Zanaco in Kitwe.
This fixture at Nkana Stadium will pit the two giants’ wits and strength on their ability to lay claim to the 2014 league title.
Besides that, this fixture has always drawn some of the biggest crowds in Zambia and even when Nkana was the biggest terror in local football, then minors Zanaco were always a bogey team and the Lusaka side will be wishing that part of history is re-lived.
Zanaco has been the inform team crashing all before them at the start of this season.
But when they started facing the ‘big boys’ last weekend, Zesco United beat them 1-0 at home with coach Aggrey Chiyangi saying it was an unfortunate loss and it mattered less since they were still league leaders.
The bankers sit pretty on top on 29 points from 12 games while Nkana with a backlog of five games are eighth on 14 points from eight games.
This match will signify the start of a hectic period of clearing off the back log for caretaker coach, Zeddy Saileti’s charges.
While Zanaco leaks its wounds from losing to Zesco at the weekend, Nkana came off Zambia’s fiercest derby with a draw against their Kitwe nemesis Power Dynamos – the team Chiyangi’s men play this Saturday at Arthur Davies stadium.
On that same day, Nkana will have an equally rough day away to Red Arrows in Lusaka before a Wednesday tie against Nakambala Leopards.
But this afternoon, Zanaco know a loss will dent their ego and title hopes while Nkana should know that a slip up will make the mountain bigger especially that the top three formidable teams – Zanaco, Zesco and Power Dynamos – are separated by just three points.