Zesco United coach Mumamba Numba insists Wednesdays 1-0 loss to Nkwazi was not a result of overconfidence after beating Nkana last Sunday.
Nkwazi punished Zesco through a second half penalty converted by Christopher Zulu to end their seven match unbeaten run.
The highlight of Zesco’s good spell saw them beat struggling defending league champions Nkana 2-1 away in Kitwe on January 17.
“I don’t think that was in their minds. It was just a tough game. We played a determined Nkwazi and they are not a pushover,” Numba said.
“We told the team during our pre-match meeting that it won’t be an easy game looking at the way Nkwazi played against Lusaka Dynamos.”
Nkwazi halted seventh placed Lusaka Dynamos two match winning run with a 0-0 home draw on January 15.
“I watched them on TV and I told them it won’t be easy for us to get maximum points and we have to work hard on the pitch and it showed how Nkwazi came on us on the pitch. They deserve to get the three points,” Numba said.
The home defeat denied Zesco an opportunity to go top of the table and stayed put at number two on 22 points, one point behind leaders Prison Leopards.
Zesco have the weekend off because Power Dynamos had five players on CHAN duty but the fifth, midfielder Chaniza Zulu, has yet to return from Cameroon after he was dropped from the final team.
Fair very fair judgement. We move on