Napsa Stars Head coach Perry Mutapa says it’s exciting to see his team reach the ABSA Cup Final under the Eden National Division One League.
The Pensioners qualified to the final on Saturday after beating Kitwe and Super League side Nkana FC 4-2 on post-match penalties.
Napsa will face their Lusaka counterpart Red Arrows FC in a final match scheduled for Heroes Stadium on April 16, 2022.
And Coach Perry said his team played a good game against Nkana despite the stadium being in full capacity with Nkana fans.
“Nkana with the 12th player which is the supporters, I think it is difficult to play with them,”
“You can see the stadium was packed in full capacity but we had our plan and we did not allow them to finish their passes.” Mutapa said.
Commenting on the performance of his side, Mutapa said he will need to re-enforce his striking department in the next games as the strikers did not deliver according to his expectations.
The Coach said NAPSA Stars will go into the final match as underdogs just like the previous matches, but will do their best to fight for the Cup.
He added that there was need to work more on utilizing the chances looking at how Red Arrows have a lethal attack.
And Saturday’s victory has revived Napsa Stars’ hopes of scooping the second title having won their first in 2012.
At the start of the game, Jacob Ngulube had a threatening shot that went slightly above the goal post in the second minute of the game.
However, it took four minutes into the game for Chaniza Zulu to shoot on goal that was parried by Kelvin Malunga.
The second half of the game seemed to be tense as both teams looked aggressive to get a goal.
As the game was unwrapping, both teams had shots on target that could have concluded matters in regulation time but both Goal Keepers were there to do the job.
The Pensioner’s goalkeeper was the hero of the day as he saved penalty taken by former NAPSA Stars player Jacob Ngulube while Harrison Chisala missed one.
Nkana did not lose everything as Patrick Gondwe was Man of the match walking away with K15, 000.
The winner of this year’s competition will pocket K650,000 while this year’s runner up will pocket K300,000.
ends