•ZANACO captain Ziyo Tembo in a tussle with Cotton Sport Christian Dyo Ngakole during the CAF Champions League match at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka. Picture by ALLAN MATIYA

By ADRIAN MWANZA At National Heroes Stadium –
Zanaco 2-1 Cotton
ZANACO did themselves huge favors by taking temporal leadership of Group D in the CAF Champions League with a gritty win against bottom team Cotton Sport of Cameroon with a late winner.
With Al Ahly taking on Wydad Casablanca later on at night, Zanaco banked maximum points at home with a 2-1 win to lead the group with seven points just two short of the magical nine.
Youngster Seth Sakala put Zanaco in front in the ninth minute when Seth Sakala nodded home leaving the Cotton goalkeeper George Bokwe stranded to send the home crowd wild.
Cotton however restored parity in the 25th minute when Souleymanou Moussa headed them level to silence the home crowd as the visitors made a fight of it.
Then Felix Nyaende thought he had restored the home side lead only for the Ivorian referee Abou Coulibaly to disallow it for offside.
The Cameroonian outfit sensing danger raised their game, found their rhythm and dominated play in the dying minutes of the first half.
After the break, Zanaco came back a bit rejuvenated and kept probing the Cameroonian side but they showed resilient.
With only five minutes left in regulation time, the Zambian side found the winner through their Congolese striker Didi Kitumbu who shot inside the box to beat Bokwe.
The occasion was not lost on Zanaco coach Numba Mumamba who said the win was a huge morale booster for his team and that they were hoping for a similar result in the return fixture.
“We are happy that we managed to beat Cotton Sport who proved to be a good side but we are not going to be complacent,” he said.