ENYIMBA'S SCANDALOUS LOSS TO ZANACO

By NBF News

Felix Anyansi Agwu
Nigerian Premier League champion, Enyimba of Aba, was beaten 4-0 in the first leg of its Confederations Cup game against Zambia's Zanaco. The game played in Lusaka, saw the Nigerian team suffer its worst defeat in continental football.

But the Chairman of Enyimba, Chief Felix Anyansi Agwu, who spoke to Daily Sunsport on phone from Lusaka, said there was no course for alarm because they had been in this kind of situation before and came out unscatched but tasked his players to show more commitment if they want to scale the difficult hurdle before them.

' Yes, we lost but it boils down to non-commitment of the players.

We had no business losing that game but I am not bothered because we have the quality players who could turn this result around.

Two-time African champion, Enyimba, who just regained the Nigerian league crown two weeks ago, looked disorganised in the first half.

Zanaco took just two minutes to take the lead through defender Eugene Shamakamba who headed in from a corner kick.

Three minutes later, Zanaco doubled their lead through Mathews Macha whose close -range shot beat Enyimba goalkeeper Ejiogu Chiyoke. Enyimba's best attempt in the first half came from their lively winger Philip Auta on 15 minutes who skipped pasted Zanaco's defence but saw his tame shot sail across the face of the home side's goal mouth. Zanaco stretched their lead to 3-0 in the 29th minute through Zambia international Ignatius Lwipa and the hosts completed the rout in the 44th minute when striker Winston Kalengo headed in from close range.

The second half saw Enyimba regroup, but their efforts were only enough to stop Zanaco from scoring more while being unable to reduce the tally. Enyimba's spokesperson Tonnex Chukwu blamed their loss on a lack of commitment from some of their players.