… wins for Ekhaya, Mafco on opening day…
Peter Mponda came back to haunt his former side as defending champions, Silver Strikers, started the defence of their title with a narrow 0-1 defeat at the hands of FCB Nyasa Big Bullets at Bingu National Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the first match of the new campaign.
It was a match that was played with high intensity as Bullets dominated possession throughout the match, despite Silver’s push for an equaliser that never came.
FCB Nyasa Big Bullets got their new TNM Super League campaign off to a perfect start with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the defending champions Silver Strikers at Bingu National Stadium on Saturday.
It was just what coach Peter Mponda was looking for from his players who had a brilliant performance in a fully packed stadium.
What happened…
The hosts were the first to press on the acceleration peddle in the opening ten minutes of the match.
The Central Bankers dominated possession and passed the ball around at will, but they didn’t do much in the final third as Richard Chimbamba was hardly troubled.
Soon after this, Mponda’s men took over the proceedings with more ball possession through Wongani Lungu, Lloyd Banega, and Yankho Singo, who completely dominated the midfield.
There was a cross from Yamikani Mologeni in the 22nd minute, which found Maxwell Phodo, but the attacker failed to score with the goal wide-open.
Bullets kept on pressing, and they should have had a goal in the 29th minute when Babatunde Adepoju dribbled past Maxwell Paipi and Innocent Shema, but the striker, instead of just laying the ball down to Phodo who was ready and steady, decided to shoot. However, his effort missed George Chikooka’s upright with an inch.
And three minutes later, Bullets’s pressure paid off. Silver’s captain, Chikondi Kamanga, lost possession to Lungu, who advanced into the box, and with a one-on-one situation with Chikooka, he passed the ball to Babatunde who made a simple finish, 0-1.
At this moment, the hosts were yet to test Chimbamba while Bullets kept passing the ball around and made more moves into the opponent’s half.
There was another golden opportunity for Bullets in the 34th minute when Peter Mgangira’s men gave away the ball to Singo, who released Babatunde in the offensive area, but the forward failed to capitalise as he was outsmarted by Shema who made a quick recovery to prevent them from conceding another goal.
With five minutes remaining, Mgangira brought in Dan Sandukira and Festus Duwe for Chinsinsi Maonga and Precious Sambani, who was struggling to deal with Mologeni’s pace.
These two changes improved Silver’s attack. Within three minutes, they had three corner kicks, which were well-defended by Bullets, and that was all for the half.
After the recess, the intensity of the game dropped. But, Bullets were good on the ball, and they made more passes in the opposition’s half, but they weren’t clinical enough to add more goals to completely bury their Bankers.
In the 47th minute, Chimwemwe Idana saw his weaker shot easily handled by Chimbamba, probably his first serious involvement in the match.
Bullets had a goal in the 51st minute ruled out by Easter Zimba in unbelievable circumstances.
A long ball from the Babatunde found Phodo, who got the better of Paipi before slotting the ball home. Surprisingly, Zimba ruled the goal out for an infringement, a decision that shocked everyone, including the Central Bankers who perhaps saw nothing wrong in the build-up to the goal.
Mgangira brought in Stain Davie for Uchizi Vunga to try to improve his attack, which wasn’t very effective.
With 61 minutes played, tempers flared up between the two teams as they both were not happy with some of the decisions from Zimba.
The Bankers, through Sandukira, launched an attack in the 65th minute that almost resulted in a goal, but a cross from the left side of the field missed every sky-blue player before the ball went out of the field for a throw-in to Bullets.
McDonald Lameck saw his long-range attempt going wide in the 69th minute.
Mponda made his first two substitutions in the 71st minute when he brought in Clyde Senaji and Ernest Petro for Chikumbutso Salima and Phodo.
Babatunde had an opportunity to double his tally in the 76th minute when he had two defenders to beat, but he cheaply gave away the ball to Lameck just closer to the penalty box.
The Bankers brought in Gift Chunga for Zebron Kalima in the 80th minute, while Aaron and Babatunde were replaced by Chawanangwa Gumbo and Ephraim Kondowe in the 80th, and 84th minute, respectively.
There was an injury scare of Chimbamba in the 86th minute when he collided with Davie in aerial combat, but the shot-stopper played with pain in the remaining minutes of the match.
Kondowe almost made an immediate impact in the 87th minute when he received a good pass from Mologeni, but the forward’s shot hit the side net.
That missed chance almost punished Bullets in the 90th minute.
Chimbamba failed to deal with a long ball from Chikondi Kamanga, and as the ball was destined to find Davie, Senaji produced an excellent tackle to prevent the striker from slotting the ball home.
There were five minutes of added time to the clock which allowed the Bankers to create two more opportunities, but Chimbamba was very outstanding with two important saves to help his team claim all the points in the first match of the season.
Babatunde was named man of the match.
At Kamuzu Stadium, the newly promoted Ekhaya FC registered a 2-0 win over Mighty through a strike each from Lovemore Mbeta and Emmanuel Saviel.
The win means Enos Chatama’s charges will spend the first day of the season on top of the log table on goal difference.
At Chitowe, an early strike from Yohane Malunga inspired Mafco FC to a hard-fought 1-0 win over Chitipa United to start the new campaign on a high.
It was a match of two halves, as Mafco dominated the first half, while Chitipa controlled the second half, but they couldn’t equalize as the hosts defended with everything to claim all the points.
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