08/01/2023
10 AIRMEN PAY THEIR NAPSA CONTRIBUTION.
The 10-man Red Arrows succumbed to a 3-1 loss to the NAPSA Stars football club on Saturday afternoon in Lusaka's National Heroes Stadium, which also marked the end of an era for famed Zambian FIFA referee Janny Sikazwe, who announced his retirement from the sport. The match was the final match of his career, which has seen him handle five AFCONs, two World Cups, and several championship games on the continent.
Back to the game, the NAPSA Stars took the lead 11 minutes after kickoff through Simon Nkhata, much to the pleasure of the home crowd. However, the lead only lasted until the 38th minute, when Saddam Phiri equalized from the penalty spot.
Mr. Sikazwe pointed to the penalty spot again in the 50th minute, as the second half resumed with Musonda Kapembwa converting the next penalty kick to give the pensioners the lead again. Despite the Airmen's best efforts, they were reduced to 10 men in the 58th minute after Richard Daka was sent off for a second yellow card for a reckless tackle. Augustine Mulenga demonstrated that the adage "old is gold" is true by scoring the third for the NAPSA Stars in the 71st minute, capitalizing on a scoring opportunity created by sloppy play by the Red Arrows defense.
The NAPSA Stars move to 9th on the log with a win and amass 24 points, but what will be interesting is the equal numbers they have in their results after 18 games of 6 wins, 6 draws, and 6 losses, with the bigger positive of running with back-to-back wins. The NAPSA Stars beat the Prison Leopards 4-1 before the season took a break, and before that, the other time they managed back-to-back wins was in October 2022, when they beat the Kabwe Warriors and ZESCO United, respectively.
They play Nkwazi next in week 19, and they will be hoping they can go three straight with straight wins for the first time since 2020, when they lined up four straight victories against Buildcon, Green Eagles, KYSA, and ZESCO United.
While NAPSA Stars are putting up a stellar performance to their records, Red Arrows are gnashing their teeth hoping they donβt replicate their worst super league run that they suffered in 2014 when they lost straight eight games in a roll. They are on four games losing streak, and four more losses will equal the 2014 season. That period started on 31st May 2014 with a loss to Green Eagles and ended with a 3-1 loss on 2nd August to Indeni.
Big Congratulations NAPSA STARS