•A TRIUMPHANT Green Buffaloes squard celebrates after being crowned 2015 Barclays Cup champions, thanks to a convincing 2-0 victory over Nkwazi in the final played at Nkoloma Stadium yesterday. (Inset) Republican President Edgar Lungu hands over the trophy to Buffaloes skipper Christopher Katongo. Pictures by GWEN CHIPASULA

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

At Nkoloma Stadium
Buffaloes 2 Nkwazi 0
GREEN Buffaloes yesterday produced a dominant display to claim their first-ever Barclays Cup title as the Army side effectively put ‘Policemen’ Nkwazi in their place during an exciting final in Lusaka.
The final, watched by Republican President Edgar Lungu, saw Buffaloes score two quick first half goals that sealed off the game to walk away with K350,000 while Nkwazi pocketed K150,000 as the man-of-the-match award went to Jaspher Masiyaleti, who was handed a K5,000 prize.
Yesterday’s final played before an encouraging crowd, saw Buffaloes hardly break a sweat before they got into dreamland as Stephen Kabamba put them in front inside 20 minutes before captain Christopher Katongo confirmed the victory with a calmly-taken penalty 15 minutes later.
After a slow start, Kabamba, a hard working left back, made the most of an un-cleared opportunity off a Sebastian Mwansa corner to head in at the far post as Nkwazi defenders were caught napping.
That goal meant Nkwazi, who were playing a compact game, had to open up in search of an equaliser but this only meant that Buffaloes were allowed to play their game of quick attacks.
With Katongo, a former Chipolopolo captain and back to full fitness, Buffaloes were able to exploit the spaces and on 34 minutes, Masiyaleti was put through only to be tripped by Nkwazi goalie Makasa Kalaba as he charged down on goal.
Makasa escaped with only a yellow card but that was as much as he could get from the incident as Katongo slotted in with a cheeky strike to put his side two goals up and most certainly confirm themselves as the 2015 Barclays Cup champions.
Nkwazi knew that their dream was going up in flames and some individualism started creeping in with Lottie Nyimbili putting on some solo stanza and was at the heart of all good things from the police outfit twice forcing saves from keeper Dave Kaumbwa all in the first half.
With a comfortable 2-0 lead, Buffaloes did not need to exert themselves much in the second half and did just enough to keep Nkwazi at bay although on more than two occasions, the Army side lived dangerously.
The first of these was in the 75th minute when Nkwazi captain Musukuma Chipungu found space outside the box and let off a shot that hit the post, bounced off a low diving Kaumbwa’s back and rolled back into play with a danger cleared.
Then in the 82nd minute, Emmanuel Kasonde powered past the Buffaloes defence and with just Kaumbwa to beat, he decided to clip the ball over the cross bar to sum up their worst day in a game that they had as many chances as the Army side.
Buffaloes went into wild celebrations immediately referee Wisdom Chewe blew the final whistle with Katongo as the cheer leader while their crestfallen opponents went to the ground in anguish watched on by Iinspector General of Police Stella Libongani.
Fans stormed the pitch and lifted Coach Bilton Musonda following his triumph to land a trophy for the Army commander Lieutenant-General Paul Mihova, having last won the Mosi Cup in 2005.