Zesco United beat Nkana 3-2 away in Kitwe on Sunday amidst ugly scenes from home fans in this big Copperbelt derby played at Nkana Stadium in a Faz Super Division Week 20 game.
The defending league champions came back twice to stun Nkana in Wusakile to also win bragging rights in this battle to enter the top five.
Nkana took the lead in the 27th minute through Evans Kangwa who thumped in a thunderous shot.
However, Zesco hit back twice before the break in a period of four minutes to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Winstone Kalengo leveled on 34 minutes before Alfred Luputa stretched Zesco’s lead seven minutes before the break.
Simmering tensions boiled over in the second half but not before Nkana equalized through Lameck Mwale in the 53rd minute.
Fifa referee Jan Sikazwe of Kapiri Mposhi was forced to stop play three times as Nkana and Zesco fans clashed in the stands.
Zesco held their cool to seal the three points on the 63rd minute in the midst of mayhem through Maybin Mwaba.
The Ndola side rise from 7th to 4th on the table on 32 points to move within five points of leaders Power Dynamos and second placed Red Arrows.
And Striker Jacob Mulenga will miss Zambia’s trip to Comoros to play their 2012 Africa Cup Group C qualifier on September 4.
According to Faz, Mulenga will miss the game after suffering another injury on Saturday while in action with his Dutch club FC Utrecht.
Mulenga suffered a hamstring injury in the 77th minute just four minutes after scoring Utrecht’s third goal in their 3-1 home win over Roda JC.
Faz say they are awaiting an official medical report on the extent of Mulenga’s injury from Utrecht on Monday.
Mulenga was expected to make a return to the Zambia fold for the first time in nine months after recovering from a long-term injury.
qiuck recovery jacob.
“Zesco Utd came back twice to stun Nkana” and “Zesco hit back twice before the break in a period of four minutes to take a 2-1 lead into halftime”. This is confusing. LT please consentrate when reporting on sport.
Poor reporting……
Jacob is playing some lovely football…hope he recovers in time for the final game against Libya…