By Daily Revelation Correspondent
Zesco United’s bench says Sunday’s dramatic 2-2 away draw against Power Dynamos at Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe is testimony that it is very easy for 10-men to play against the defending MTN/FAZ Super League champions and still manage to smile this season.
Power blew away a two-nil half-time lead after Zesco goalkeeper Ian Otieno was red-carded in the 32nd minute only to see their rivals from Ndola score two late goals to deny the 2022/2023 champions who remain unbeaten in the league this season an opportunity to go top of the table.
Zesco assistant coach Tennant Chilumba said in a post-match interview at Arthur Davies on Sunday that their bench did not panic because had a plan to leave Kitwe with a minimum of a point against Power.
“In the few games that we have watched Power, they are struggling in the second half. I think we can advise their coaches to work on the fitness levels of their players,” Chilumba said.
“They were collapsing so we worked on that and if you saw the way we pushed, we were one-man down but didn’t look like we were one-man down because we were on top of the game.
“We had the fitness levels, we controlled the game and we kept possession because we knew we had one player out.”
Austin Muwowo put Power ahead with a 35th minute free-kick to give goalkeeper Mwenya Chibwe his first task to do immediately after replacing striker Collins Sikombe following Otieno’s red card.
Andy Boyeli added the second goal on the stroke of halftime as Power dominated proceedings heading into the dressing room.
But Power’s spectre of fatigue reared its ugly after the hour mark despite Chibwe keeping out two sure chances from Boyeli.
Zesco midfielder Kelvin Kampamba cut the lead in the 78th minute to stay in the lead on the top scorer’s chart with 4 goals after five rounds of matches played.
Kampamba then turned from scorer to provider in the 85th minute when Abraham Siankombo scored his debut goal for Zesco since joining them on a free move from Zanaco in the off-season.
Power are second on the league table tied on 9 points with leaders FC MUZA while Zesco are third on 8 points.
Meanwhile, it was the third time that Power has exhibited signs of slacking in the second half at home.
On September 9 Power were fortunate to escape with a 2-1 home win over Nkwazi after going two-up as early as the 25th minute halftime lead only to fizzle out and concede in the 61st minute but held on to survive to get the three points.
However, Power were not so lucky against Simba DSC of Tanzania on September 16 in their 2023/2024 CAF Champions League pre-group stage, first-leg match at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
Power twice took the lead through Joshua Mutale in the 22nd minute and Cephas Mulombwa in the 74th only for Clatus Chama to twice equalise in the 58th and 90th minutes.
Power’s next game is against Simba on October 1 in Dar es Salaam in a last-leg match they must win to qualify for the group stage of this season’s CAF Champions League.
But Chilumba had some parting words on the possible outcome of that fixture in Tanzania.
“There are only three results in football. Football is very cruel so we expect only one of those three results,” said Chilumba.
