NAPSA Stars suffered a 1-0 narrow defeat at the hands of Red Arrows to miss out on another Charity Shield title in yesterday’s Carling Black Label Sponsored Charity Shield match played at Nkoloma stadium.
The goal came through Joseph Phiri in the 31st minute via a counter attack.
At the start of the first half, Napsa Stars looked to be a better side as they fired some warning shots towards Arrows’ goal with Thomas Banda targeting the net before Kelvin Mumba parried it.
Later, Ricky Banda took advantage of the pensioners defense that became loose and assisted Phiri who converted the attack into a goal.
The second half had Napsa Stars players dominating the game as they tried to level matters.
Coming straight from the Nation league, Napsa Stars head coach Mutapa in a post-match interview said the game gave him and his technical bench an insight of the Super league that kicks off this coming weekend.
Mutapa said the Zambia Super League curtain raiser was used as a preparatory match as the team bounces back to the country’s prestigious league.
Meanwhile, Mutapa has congratulated the Airmen for lifting the shield stating that they too played a good game and were equal to the task.
He however said Red Arrows were ahead in preparation which gave them more advantage to gain dominance of the game.
“They had a four-team tournament, but as for us we only played one stronger team which is ZESCO United.” Mutapa said.
He attributed the goal to the lack of communication at the back and said that lessons have been drawn from such reckless mistakes.
“We have to work on our striking force and reinforce the defense because we allowed a silly goal.” Mutapa said.
He however said overall, his players performed so well despite allowing the only goal of the match.
With the team coming from division one and displaying a splendid performance against Super Division League Champions, Mutapa said his lads have sent a strong message that they have come to stay in the top flight league.
NAPSA DG Munyangwa Munyangwa was also present at the match.
Napsa Stars who are also the 2022 ABSA Cup champions will now shift preparations to their next away game against the Charity shield winners Red Arrows this time around in the MTN Super League week-one encounter this Saturday.
