In a Week 21 match at Lusaka’s Sunset Stadium, Nchanga Rangers head coach Robert Tembo praised his team for rallying from a deficit to get a point against home side Kafue Eagles.
Rangers remain atop the National Division One League standings with 45 points, five ahead of second place Lumwana Radiants, who defeated Zesco Malaiti Rangers 1–nil. Rangers achieved their third draw of the season.
Left-back Emmanuel Chembe gave Tembo’s team the lead early in the game, but Kennedy Mushipe of the Kafue Eagles tied the score at the end of the first half.
The team sponsored by Kafue Town Council took the initiative and gained the lead thanks to a goal from Raymond Mwiinga in the second half.
The Eagles, however, were unable to maintain their 2-1 lead when Maxwell Mulutula, the top goal scorer in National Division One, scored past the Eagles goalkeeper in extra time with help from former winger Kingsley Fichite.
Reacting to the result, Tembo said it was a tough encounter for his side but was quick to heap praise on the players for rescuing a point against relegation-threatened Kafue Eagles on the road.
“I’m very happy with how the boys have played. In the second round, being away is going to be tough,” Tembo said. “These guys are proving their strength. No team will allow themselves to be beaten easily; otherwise, they came up while we were down. It is not a bad result; we are still on the right track.”
“We started at a low pace, which is why we didn’t create a lot of chances. In the second half, after going down and after making chances, we were able to create chances, then we equalized and went on to miss other chances,” Tembo added.
Up next for Nchanga Rangers is Atletico Lusaka.
Tembo has already shifted attention to the next match against third-placed Atletico Lusaka, who recorded a 4-2 win over City of Lusaka on Saturday afternoon.
“We know how Atletico Lusaka plays their game; we lost the first game here in Lusaka. So we are going to go to our drawing board, starting with how we have played [against Kafue Eagles], and try to work on the mistakes that we made today that made us not win the game,” Tembo revealed.
Tembo states that his side is planning to make amends for the defeat against Atletico Lusaka in the first round, though he anticipates a tough match.
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“They are a good side; it is not going to be easy to collect three maximum points from them, but since we will be playing at home, we just have to be ourselves to collect maximum points against Atletico.”
