Red Arrows Football Club has started its Zambian Super League title defence with a slender 1-0 win over FC MUZA.
The Airmen’s first points of the season came in a home match at Nkoloma Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. Captain Saddam Phiri put Chisi Mbewe’s side in the lead after good link-up play with Akim Mumba in just two minutes of play.
Arrows dominated the first half, with FC MUZA struggling to create meaningful chances throughout the first 45 minutes.
Congolese attacker Ciel Ebengo thought he had found the back of the net in the 21st minute mark only for the goal to be ruled out for an infringement on a FC MUZA defender in the penalty area.
Four minutes later, defender Brian Chilimina came close to doubling the lead for the Airmen, but his shot hit the post before going out.
Mbewe wants more from Red Arrows
Reacting to the result, Mbewe said the players struggled to cope with the pace of the match.
Mbewe adds that he was happy with the result, but the performance was not up to the standards he wanted his players to play.
“We didn’t play our usual game; we struggled a bit; we created so many chances but failed to score, but we are happy we scored in the early minutes like we planned,” Mbewe said.
“Again, maybe it’s because we had a game on Saturday. I think that contributed to the player’s heaviness in this game. It’s a great motivation; this is what we wanted as a team; we had planned that we should start this season on a good note. Otherwise, we are happy with the result but not happy with the performance.”
The gaffer is not worried about fatigue crippling the performance of the team, as he called on the players to take chances when they created in the match.
“I think we have the depth; I think from the first half, when we analysed how our key players were performing, we thought fatigue made to perform below par, and that’s how we made all the substitutions in today’s. I think we saw a little bit of improvement in the last minutes of the game. We need to be clinical at goal; we had a lot of chances,” he stated.
The result has taken Arrows to 10th place on the log with 3 points, three behind log leaders Nchanga Rangers, who beat Lumwana Radiants 4-0.
FC MUZA remain winless after three matches with two defeats and one draw.
