We were in near black out – Malaiti coach

TIM ZULU writes THE whole body was in the cold waters of relegation except the nose. That was how close Eden University National Division One Lusaka based side Zesco Malaiti Rangers where from a complete sink to the Provincial Division One League, Malaiti Assistant coach Nowell Phiri has said. “When we weighed our position on the log table we knew we were nowhere near the top 10 meaning we had nothing to fight for up there. The battle for us pointed to one thing only and that was to help the team fight relegation at all cost.” The Eden League, that seconds the Super League, is highly competitive and requires one to put his house in order or face football consequences and come next season it will prove to be much tougher so for us as Malaiti Rangers we need to do a serious introspect to identify our weakest point and looking for areas that need beefing up otherwise we are happy having survived. Speaking when he featured on the Eden Saturday Football Show Biz the coach said Malaiti will be the team to beat next season. “We have a good work plan with my Head Coach Wilson Mwale and we are more than determined to put up a strong squad come next season,” Phiri said. And speaking in an exclusive interview Head Coach Wilson Mwale said the squad may have lost three key players to their senior sister club Zesco United but the team will emerge even stronger. “I can confirm that Gilbert Tembo, Willard Nkausu and Emerson Kabwe have trekked to Zesco United which is a plus for us and of course good for the boys as this is a ladder to bigger things in their football career,” Mwale said. Malaiti Rangers who were sitting slightly above the knife edge of the Eden league table survived the final chop by just a point to end the season above relegated Mumbwa Medics on position 14 with 24 points. The Sun