ZESCO United 1-1 Kabwe Warriors
Was this enough for George Lwandamina ?
ZESCO United are leading the super league table with one point and have not lost in five games now, winning four and drawing one. But did Lwandamina need more than a draw against Kabwe Warriors ?
The long unbeaten run at home against Kabwe Warriors before this game set the stage. The build-up to this game indicated that it wouldn’t be any different from the past games with that poor record Warriors have in Ndola, worse off Kabwe Warriors coming from a loss in Southern Province and another big game against Power Dynamos next it looked more like a typical ZESCO United win.
So a second draw for United added to two losses so far might have left George Lwandamina doom. But an improved performance – and the sight of supporters not happy with the manager- summed up a strange afternoon at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium. It’s clear that fans are divided on George Lwandamina and the general feeling is that the majority are not comfortable with the state of affairs.
ZESCO United produced a better performance in the first half but could not find a bigger gap goal to add to the Dave Daka opener against a well disciplined Kabwe Warriors team.
ZESCO United fans are becoming noisy and this should worry George, they are used to success and they won’t look at the five games unbeaten streak but will look at results on match day, unfortunately. When the fans call for their team to attack what they actually mean is that they want goals. There was some evidence here of the difference between those two demands – despite not finding the second goal, United supporters were at least encouraged by their team’s intent.
Nobody who had witnessed the previous games could have anticipated the movement shown on Wednesday . What was missing were goals and perhaps the fans were too fast to count 37 points before the game was played .
You may condemn George, but this is a Kabwe Warriors team which plays with purpose this season and hence the deficiencies of ZESCO United could get down to the efficiencies of a Tenant Chilumba’s tutored side.
My opinion is that George Lwandamina is okay and his team’s dominance was apparent in the passing stats but not the scoreline. United completed more passes in their own half than in most of the games I have watched this season with their best overall passing accuracy too. You have to go back to the visit of Mbabane Swallows in April to find a game in which ZESCO United passed it so accurately.
Like that of their manager, ZESCCO United’s position remains top but fans know this will be a tough season and dropping points at home will be total disaster .
I think away from two points dropped, the team showed the supporters something. It’s clear that the players will fight for George unlike what we all suspected during the Zlat era.
But then results will need to follow before the fans and those associated with the club start thinking Tenant CHEMBO was better off.
Without a doubt, George Lwandamina is under Pressure .
