Simba reach group stage for the first time in 15-years

Zambia-import, Cletous Chama scored a late winner on Sunday to send Tanzania champions, Simba, through to the group stage for the first time since 2003.

Simba won 3-1 at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam to win 4-3 on aggregate, stage a comeback to the group stage of the premier continental championship after more than a decade.

Nkana drops to the second-tier of Total CAF Confederation Cup playoff, just Zambian counterpart, Zesco, who was knocked out by DRC giants, TP Mazembe earlier on Saturday.

Both sides started the game on speed to give both goalies, Aishi Manula for Simba and Allan Chibwe for Zambia a task to save Kelvin Kampamba and John Bocco efforts respectively in the opening 10 minutes.

Walter Bwalya gave the hosts a mountain to climb when he headed Nkana into the lead in the 16th minute, and take the score to 3-1 on aggregate following a 2-1 win from the first leg last week.

Bwalya’s goal was like a wake-up call for Simba as they responded quickly and bolster their attack. Erasto Nyoni nearly equalized for the homers in the 24th minute but his long range shot hit the cross bar.

Five minutes later, midfielder Jonas Mkude equalized for Simba from a long range shot that left Nkana goalie, Chibwe with nothing to do. Rwanda-import, Meddie Kagere headed the second for Simba in the dying minutes of the first half to make the score 2-1 in the half time.

Both teams came out strong in the second half, with Simba hitting the post in the 56 minutes before Nkana responded quickly and missed three chances through Bwalya and Ronald Kampamba.

With the game looking like it was going to penalties, Chama converted substitute Hassan Dilunga’s cross from the left to net the winner, with only three minutes to spare. It was Chama’s fourth goal in the competition.

**Reactions **

Patrick Aussems (Head Coach, Simba)

The game was very tough. Nkana was good in the opening minutes, they forced us to play their styles and we conceded early goal that gives us a task to do. I am happy that we fought back to win. It was our target to go through the group stage, now we will sit and look on what we can do on this stage.

Beston Chambeshi (Head Coach, Nkana)

We had a good game, unfortunately we lost. We started the first half well before Simba responded quickly. I made few changes in the second half that looked positive and we could have scored three goals by then but we lacked concentration in the final third. I congratulate Simba for the victory but they need to improve especially on their defense if they want to perform well in the group stage.