By FELIX MALUNGA –
ZESCO United coach, George Lwandamina believes his charges will still progress to the next stage of the 2015 Orange CAF Champions League despite being controversially held to a 1-1 draw by Swaziland’s Mbabane Swallows on Sunday.
The Zambian champions were headed for victory through a 45th minute Justin Zulu goal until Felix Badenhorst’s header in stoppage time which came off the woodwork was allowed to stand by Lesotho referee, Mohau John Sentho.
Goalline technology was badly needed in this match as Badenhorst’s effort hit the underside of the cross bar before Jackson Mwanza headed it away on the line but Sentho signalled for a goal.

. Lwandamina

Lwandamina said Zesco had no choice but to qualify to the next round of Africa’s prestigious club competition.
He said this on arrival at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport in Ndola yesterday.
Lwandamina said Zesco could have been more comfortable with an away win at the Somhlolo National Stadium but a dubious equaliser denied them that opportunity.
“We have to progress to the next round. It was going to be best maybe if we had won that game in Swaziland. They gave them an equaliser which was a dubious one,” Lwandamina said.
He, however, said the Zambians could have still won the first leg of the preliminary round had they been more clinical in front of goal.
Having played the first leg on synthetic turf in Mbabane, Lwandamina was optimistic Zesco would perform better on Levy Mwanawasa Stadium’s natural grass.
“But equally ourselves, we had scoring opportunities. I know playing in natural grass; the boys will do the work much better than they did in Swaziland. We hope and trust it (return leg) will go our way,” the former Zambia Under-20 coach said.
Zesco captain, Jacob Banda cautioned his teammates against underrating Swallows, saying the Swazi champions were a good side which should not be taken lightly.
Just like his coach, Banda believes Zesco would finish off Swallows in Ndola in the decider on February 28.
Meanwhile, Swallows captain, Tony Tsabedze conceded that the away fixture in Ndola would be a knife-edge clash for the Swazi side.
Tsabedze told the local media in a post-match interview that the away leg of the Champions League would be tough but that Swallows still had a chance to progress.
“It’ll be on knife-edge in Zambia as both sides have a chance to advance to the next round. We struggled in the first half but got some chances in the second half until we scored, which gives us a 50-50 chance,” he said.
Tsabedze also said Swallows found Zesco tougher than their previous Zambian opponents, Zanaco and Nkana.
The winner of this fixture will face either 2014 CAF Confederation Cup runners-up Sewe Sport of Ivory Coast or Guinea’s AS Kaloum of Guinea next month in the first round.
Kaloum stunned Sewe 2-1 away in Abidjan at the weekend in the first leg of their preliminary round fixture.