Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Rainford Kalaba @ SS com
Gabon rallied to hold hosts Zambia 1-1 in an international friendly played at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka on Tuesday night.
Goals from Zambia captain Rainford Kalaba and Gabon goalkeeper Moto Bitseki settled the contest.
Gabon snatched a draw just hours after the 2017 Africa Cup hosts landed in Lusaka for the match.
Meanwhile, a power outage threatened to scuttle the early evening kickoff after electricity supply initially went off for four minutes, five minutes before the 6pm CAT kick-off time.
The second outage one came just before Zambia took the lead forcing proceedings to be halted for seven minutes.
When play resumed, Kalaba put Zambia ahead in the 22nd minute after firing in a cross from striker Winston Kalengo to hand the hosts a 1-0 halftime lead.
Zambia maintained their lead well into the final quarter of the second half before the Gabon goalkeeper equalized in the 78th minute from the penalty spot following a foul by Zambia defender Boyd Mkandawire.
Tuesday’s friendly came just two days after Zambia beat Kenya 2-1 in a 2017 Group E qualifier in Nairobi while Gabon had 24 hours earlier defeated Sudan 4-0 in another friendly at home in Libreville.
Zambia now take a two month break before returning to action on October 17 when they host Mozambique in a 2016 Caf African Nations Championship first leg, final round qualifier.