Prison Leopards yesterday (Tuesday) ended Green Buffaloes unbeaten run in the Netball Association of Zambia (NAZ) regular league after the combatants lost 36-37 in a rescheduled game played at Prisons Squash club in Kabwe.

Buffaloes would have been ultimate champions had they won the game but their loss revived Nkwazi’s hopes of winning the league as the two have one loss and one draw.

Match Commissioner, Davies Twininge said that the game was characterised by frequent stoppages because of the umpires’ failure to exercise professionalism and accuracy in calling out fouls.

“The umpires were disappointing. They were doubting every call they made and they made all the calls with little confidence. There was a lot of talking and players did not agree on most of the calls that were called out,” said Twininge.

The combatants maintained lead in all the quarters until the last seven minutes of the final one where they argued that two called fouls were false. The two umpires, Felix Mukobeko and Malious Mumba awarded a foul to opposite teams but the decision made by the assistant umpires favoured Prisons.

Buffaloes coach Catherine Chanda argued that there is no way the match commissioner, the two match umpires and the assistant umpires would help them because they were all from Kabwe, the home of Prison Leopards.

The wrong fouls called helped Prisons level up scores with Buffaloes and winning the centre pass. As soon as Prisons led by one point, time ran out and Prsions won by one point.

Buffaloes are now in the pressure of either beating or drawing against Nkwazi in tomorrow’s (November 22, Thursday) rescheduled game in order for them to win the league. Nkwazi on the other hand ought to beat both Buffaloes and Prisons to win the league title.

Even though Prsions beat both Buffaloes and Nkwazi, they do not stand a chance of lifting the league trophy as they are fourth on league standing.