Coach Zappa under pressure as East End Lions continues to drop points

The head coach of East End Lions FC, Francis Zappa Koroma and the managing staff are under pressure as the team continues to drop more points in the ongoing Sierra Leone Premier League season. 

The Killers have lost their last two home and away matches. Prior to the game against Bo Rangers which ended in a 1-0 defeat, Coach Zappa was brutally called out by home fans after a goalless draw against Old Edwardians at the Trade Center Arena on January 12, 2023.

Regardless of the injured Coach not being on the touchline in the last two matches, the home fans had demonstrated clearly that they are not pleased with the team’s overall performance in recent times, as they wildly chanted “Zappa Must Go” just before the club lost its last two matches. 

With eleven matches played so far, Zappa’s men have only managed to win four games, drawing five and losing two consecutively. Lions’ title hope is gradually depreciating, losing its top spot and currently sits at the 4th position with 17 points, just 9 points behind league leaders, Bo Rangers and a point away from fifth and sixth place Diamond Stars and Luawa FC respectively, as both teams have a game at hand. 

East End Lions stand-in Coach Raymond Hunter faced an undaunted Freetown City FC squad away from home without the injured trio of Prince Barrie, Alpha Kamara (Alphajor), and Mohamed Mahrez Kamara. The match ended in a 2-0 defeat against the Lions, thanks to a goal from Hilter John a few minutes after the halftime break and a spectacular finish from the corner flag by Edward Thulla in the 90th minute. 

However, despite the team’s poor runs so far this season, the Executive Committee of East End Lions Football Club in a meeting held on Friday, January 13, 2022, confirmed that they are with Coach Francis Zappa as they believe he can turn things around. The Executive Committee also announced Nle 20,000 to the team as a match-winning bonus to motivate the players. Since then, the team has only won one match out of three, losing two. Lions will lock horns with the Warriors of Port Loko Bai Bureh Warriors away from home in their next game on February 11, 2023.