Newly promoted side Atletico Lusaka put up a five-star performance against Zanaco at the Sunset Stadium during a midweek MTN Super League fixture on Thursday.
From the beginning, the Bad Boys demonstrated their intentions by making impressive passes that piqued the audience’s interest.
Thirty-four minutes into the match, neither team could find the back of the net, and it appeared like a tiebreaker would be impossible until Atletico’s Benjamin Chisala pounced on a loose ball to score the game’s lone goal.
Following that goal, Atletico gained more ground, forcing Zanaco to chase the ball for the majority of the first half.
Nothing was different in the second stanza. It seemed like Atletico was a team that would have scored another goal.
Both had a fair share of chances created, but it was Atletico that enjoyed much of the ball possession.
Zanaco coach slams players, Atletico hopeful for more wins
Reacting after the match, Atletico’s head coach Brian Kunsenama said his team needed the win and hopes for more as the season unfolds.
“The Boys needed this,” Kunsenama said. “We needed this to calm the nerves and hope many more will come.
“It’s a good morale booster for the boys and for the team but it’s nothing, it’s just the third game of the season, there is a lot of work to be done, we have over 30 games remaining, so we just have to remain calm and get back to work tomorrow. “
Henry Banda who is Zanaco’s assistant coach, expressed disappointment with his team stating that their approach to the game was very bad.
”It is a bit worrying, a big team [like Zanaco] you need to have a big character. Today, we didn’t show up, the character was very bad, the players’ attitude was very bad,” Banda said. “You could even see the way the boys were playing, they were just chasing shadows which is not good for the team but this is water under the bridge, we just have to forge ahead, there a lot of games ahead of us. We are playing on Sunday, we just have to go back, regroup and work on our mistakes.”
With four points from three games after the victory, Atletico jumped up to ninth place in the standings , while Zanaco held onto sixth place with four points from the same amount of games.
The Bankers’ next game will be on Sunday against Green Buffaloes in Week 4, while Atletico Lusaka will take on Nkwazi.
