Unam finally won their first piece of silverware when they beat KK Palace in a dramatic NFA Cup final on Saturday night.
An injury time winner by Roberto Rugam gave them a hard-fought 2-1 victory and their first title since head coach Robert Nauseb joined them four years ago.
They were losing finalists in the Top 8 Cup final to Mighty Gunners last month and seemed to be heading for another defeat when KK Palace took the lead after barely two minutes.
From a corner, Nchimunya Chindima rose high at the far post to head the ball into the net and give KK Palace the early advantage.
The early momentum was with KK Palace and their tricky forward Kalaluka Kalumbwekwa also hit the back of the net but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Unam, however, showed great resilience to fight back and equalise when Vinomaandero Kandjou stabbed in a cross by Romario Namib on 20 minutes.
Both sides had more chances in a fast-paced first half with Alpheus Nangolo heading narrowly wide for KK Palace, while a Vickson Shivute freekick was well saved by Unam keeper Owen Gariseb, and at the other end, Namib was narrowly wide from a Paulus Shikonga cross.
KK Palace stepped up the tempo after the break, and had several more chances to regain the lead, but Unam held on tenaciously.
Striker Vickson Shivute missed a great chance when he was put clear on goal but miscued his shot, while Gariseb brought off fine saves from Alpheus Nangolo and Leo Iitembu to keep them in the game.
With the two sides deadlocked at 1-1, the match seemed to be heading for extra time but Unam’s resilience paid off when Rugam scored deep into injury time after bundling a loose ball in from a corner.
It was a dramatic end to an absorbing match that left Unam coach Robert Nauseb quite emotional.
“I’m overwhelmed – these boys have really worked hard and it wasnt easy, it was a tough season, but these boys have something to show after four years of hard work,” he said.
“I just wanted these boys to have something to show after all their hard work I was just the leader of the ship – but they have done all the work and I’m proud of them, I’m very proud of these boys,” he added.
“We will now sit down next week and pave the way forward. We will bring in a few new players to strengthen the squad for the new season,” he said.
Unam captain Paulus Amutenya was ecstatic with the result.
“We are feeling amazing – all the hard work has finally paid off. It wasn’t an easy game but we pushed through. I have to give credit to my striker Rugam for that winning goal, he remained calm an, he took his time and took his chance, it was a beautiful moment,” he said.
“This title means a lot, now we finally have something to show for all the hard work over the past four years. It was a good project, a lot of youngsters have come through and now we finally have something to show for the university,” he added.
KK Palace manager Kennedy Shikongo said they didn’t take their chances.
“It was a tough game, and both teams played good football but Unam took their chances and we didn’t. They only had about two chances and scored from both, but we wasted a lot of chances, I’d say about eight chances, but we didn’t take them and we also had a penalty turned down by the referee,” he said.
“However, let me congratulate Unam, but overall I’m very proud proud of my boys – they fought all the way till the end,” he said.
