Duke Abuya stares at relegation in Zambia

Kenyan international Duke Abuya’s chances of escaping relegation in the Zambian Super League were further dented on Saturday afternoon after his Nkana side suffered a dramatic 3-2 defeat at the hands of Young Green Eagles in a round of 32 league match that saw three goals scored in the final seven minutes of the game staged at Kosa Stadium in Kafue, Zambia.

Named in the starting eleven of the matchday squad tasked with finding a fourth consecutive win and edging closer to the safety places, the former Kariobangi Sharks player only got 53 minutes of the action under his belt. Here is a wrap of how the action unfolded.

After a cagey start to the game, the game came alive in the final ten minutes of the first half as the home team, Eagles, managed two quick goals past Nkana to ensure a comfortable cushion going into the half time break.

Damiano Kola gave the hosts the lead with the opening goal of the game in the 36th minute before Konkola extended the lead with another strike that found the back of the net just three minutes later.

The game that looked to end with the 2-0 score line witnessed very late drama as three goals were scored in the last seven minutes of the game. Despite a spirited Nkana fight to try and nick a point out of the game following goals from Ronald Kampamba and Moses Nyondo in the 87th minute and 90th minute, Green Eagles broke the visitor’s hearts with a sucker punch in the 90+4th minute to steal all the three points of the game as they walked away with a 3-2 score line.

With the win, Green Eagles brought to an end Nkana’s three match winning streak that had seen the club move to only four points from getting out of the relegation places. In the last six games, Nkana had also done well for themselves by winning five of those matches with the only defeat coming at the hands of Lusaka Dynamos.

Following the defeat, Abuya’s Nkana are now precariously placed 15th on the table on 37 points, four away from safety with only three matches left before the season draws to a close.