• EAGLES’ striker Mathews Tembo (left) tries to dribble past Indeni defender Eugene Shamakamba during the MTN-FAZ week 20 match played at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on Saturday. Eagles won the game 1-0. Picture by MOSES CHIMFWEMBE
By KALUIMANA KALUMIANA –
Mine Police 2 Assembly 1
KONKOLA Mine Police scored two late goals to snatch a dramatic late home win when they beat National Assembly yesterday in an MTN-FAZ Premier League Week 20 fixture played at Konkola Stadium in Chililabombwe.
The win lifted Mine Police from the bottom of the table to 16th place, exchanging places with Roan United, who dropped to 17 and 14 points respectively with 10 games left in their battle for survival.
Mine Police’s win was also their first since June 8 when they beat Kabwe Warriors at the same venue to pick up only their third win of the season.
This game only came alive in the last eight minutes of the match when Assembly took the lead in the 82nd minute through Musonda Kapembwa, who fired in the ball from an acute angle. Kapembwa had been on the pitch for less than two minutes after replacing Aaron Silwimba.
Assembly’s celebrations were dumped two minutes later when coach George Kapembwa was sent from his technical area by referee Jan Sikazwe. The impact of Kapembwa’s absence was immediately felt when in the 88th minute, Mine Police defender Warren Kunda equalised after pouncing on a poorly cleared free-kick.
Then deep into stoppage time, Emmanuel Phiri fired in the winner to extend Mine Police’s unbeaten run to four successive games in which they have picked up six points out of a possible 12. Assembly stay put in sixth place on 25 points after suffering their seventh loss of the season.
Rangers 0 Arrows 0
In the earlier match played at the same venue and also beamed live on SuperSport, Red Arrows shifted one spot up the MTN/FAZ Super League table after a scoreless away draw to Nchanga Rangers in Chililabombwe.
The result was Arrows’ second successive draw as the airmen continue on the road to recovery after losing eight straight games prior to the two points and swap places with Indeni tied on 19 points in 13th and 14th places respectively.
There was little to separate the two sides although Arrows striker Francis Kombe forced the best out of Rangers goalkeeper Toaster Nsabata in the 40th minute who fumbled with the ball before defender George Chilufya cleared the danger.
Arrows midfielder Shadreck Malabo also had a great chance to get the visitors on the scoresheet in the 63rd minute but shot wide from close range.
Rangers stepped on the gas in the last ten minutes and saw Patson Daka’s 82nd minute goal bound shot headed away by Charles Siyingwa.
Eleventh placed Rangers will feel a little hard done by after referee Francis Lombe who denied them a penalty when Joseph Zimba elbowed Patrick Kabamba in the 86th minute as the Chingola side has recorded its third draw in five matches to move to 23 points.
