Zambia’s Napsa Stars suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Coton Sport of Cameroon in their CAF Confederation Cup group stage match played at Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.
Coton Sport went into the third Group B match hoping to make it two wins in a row following their success over defending champions RS Berkane last time out, and they did it against the bottom placed Napsa Stars.
The visitors got off to a perfect start when Daman Abdouraman unleashed a powerful shot from inside the 18 yard area, beating the goalkeeper with ease for a 1-0 lead.
Napsa were forced to make two substitution in the defence line bringing in Bornwell Mwape and Chanda Mushili to replace Danny Silavwe and Doisy Soko.
Sibiri Sanou came close to adding a second in the 39th minute, but his shot was deflected wide.
Napsa almost pulled one back in the 44th minute, but Narcisse Nlend wonderfully kept out the danger in a one-on-one situation.
The visiting side continued to threaten a minute from halftime as Francis Alemi narrowly drilled a smart delivery into the area wide of target.
Napsa missed a perfect chance from point-blank range midway in the second half when Dickson Chapa fluffed a well-laid cutback from Mwape beyond the near corner.
The Pensioners looked to revive their earlier momentum as the match headed towards the closing period, but Coton Sport remained stern in defence to weather any probable danger.
In another fixture played on Sunday, Nigeria’s Enyimba International defeated ES Setif of Tunisia 2-1 in a Group A match played at Enyimba Stadium.
Setif took a surprise lead in the 13th minute courtesy of Monsef Bakrar before the People Elephants found an equalizer through Austin Oladapo just five minutes before the break
The Super Eagles forward Tosin Omoyele handed Enyimba the lead on the hour mark following excellent work from two-capped Nigeria international Emmanuel Iwuala.
Setif still enjoyed the better openings, as Barkar missed out on a brace through a scuffed shot with the goal in sight a little later following a cross from the right.
It became a closely contested battle in the final stages, however Enyimba fluffed clear chances through Gabriel Ibitham in particular and Mathew Olutanji.
Enyimba though should’ve put the icing on the cake from a counter-attack led by Ogbonna, but Iwuana failed to capitalise as the two goals were enough in the end.
