By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
BOTTOM-placed Roan United this afternoon need to beat fellow strugglers Indeni to keep alive their slim hopes of staying in the MTN-FAZ Premier Division when the two clash in a delayed Week 27 fixture at Kafubu Stadium.
Roan are on 17 points, while Indeni are third from the bottom with 24 points and anything other than a win will effectively end the Luanshya side’s romance with top flight football.
And making things worse is that the audience seeing Roan battle relegation will not just the boisterous Luanshya fans but the entire Africa on SuperSport, who will carry live broadcast of the first match where relegation could be confirmed.
In a bid to avoid the embarrassing drop of shame, area Member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili, who is also Sports Minister, has pulled on one trick by asking veteran coach Fordson Kabole to try out one more spell to save the club from going under.
Kabole, whose first match saw his side loss 1-0 to National Assembly, will obviously look up to Lyton Sikaonga and Anos Phiri to deliver the needed goals and points with support from enterprising Tom Bakala and Floyd Phiri.
But Indeni is one exciting team that has a war of its own to fight and a feeble Roan come as a perfect opportunity to get their survival act into motion and they should unleash Djunes Kanda and Joe Besa on the Luanshya side.
But the survival benchmark today stands at 29 points, held by Green Buffaloes and Red Arrows, and with Roan sitting on 17 points, they can only get to the same 29 points as a draw or a loss will effectively confirm their relegation.