1 out of 6: Moyale hands Bullets early League defeat in years

The people’s team travelled all the way to Mzuzu hoping for maximum points in the opening week of the 2017 TNM Super League only to return to their base with a point following a 1-nil defeat at the hands of Moyale Barracks at Mzuzu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The loss followed a goalless draw against rookies Chitipa United on Saturday at the same venue.

And in Sunday’s defeat, Bullets mentor Nsazurwimo Ramadhan made no changes to the squad that played on Saturday, giving the hosts an advantage of doing a SWOT analysis of the people’s team before the encounter.

In the opening ten minutes of the match, the visitors were a dominant force to reckon with though they failed to put the ball past Simeon Harawa in goals for the Soldiers.

From there, the home side settled down and almost opened the scoreline on 15th minute but Khuda Muyaba saw his effort well saved by outstanding Ernest Kakhobwe in goals for Bullets.

Minutes later, Bright Magaga made his way into the box only to be denied by Kakhobwe again for a corner.

And from the resultant corner, the Lions of Kaning’ina got their opener.

Bullets’ defence was caught napping in the line of duty after failing to clear the danger away from the box only to see the ball landing in the path of Alison Black who made no mistake by putting the ball into the back of the net, 1-0.

Minutes after the opener, Mussa Manyenje seemed to have worked something for the visitors but his shot came off the woodwork.

In the second half, Bullets made a triple substitution, bringing in Dave Banda, George Nyirenda and Curthbert Sinetre for Pilirani Zonda, Henry Kabichi and misfiring Muhammad Sulumba.

However, it was Moyale who kept on pushing for more goals as Bullets failed to tame Magaga’s pace in the wings.

Bullets then had Kakhobwe to thank for keeping them in the game as he produced a stunning save to deny Muyaba from sealing the game.

However, the hosts suffered a huge blow when Alison was stretchered off after sustaining an injury.

Bullets were still no match for the Soldiers who were brilliant on the day and would have added two more goals but Kakhobwe kept the visitors into the game with stunning saves.

Bullets’ realistic chance on the day in the half was blasted by Manyenje and after 90 minutes of play, it ended 1-nil in favour of Moyale Barracks.

The result sees Bullets testing defeat in the early stages of the league for the first time in years.

In other matches, Mafco FC got the better of Epac FC 1-nil at Civo Stadium while Blue Eagles and Mzuni played to a goalless draw at Nankhaka Stadium.