Silver Strikers Youth are 2018 champions of the First Capital Bank Under 20 League after thumping Dedza Young Soccer Reserve 2-0 at Dedza Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
A brace from Ronald Pagane was enough for the junior central bankers to take home a trophy and grand prize of Mk1.5 million.
In an interview, team manager for the Reserve Bank of Malawi sponsored side, Davie Moya, said everything happened according to their plan and praised his boys for working tirelessly which earned them the trophy at the end.
“We knew that this year we would win this cup and you can see the other boys have performed better despite missing services of several players who are with the national team, we thank God that it has happened the way we wanted,” he said.
He then revealed that some of the players from the current squad will be promoted to the main team and the club will scout replacements for the youth side.
On his part, the runners up’s head coach Andrew Bunya said his boys were psychologically affected with what organisers did as they were not provided with accommodation as it was the case with their opponents hence the loss.
“I agree that we have failed to utilize chances which we got but I want to say here that organization wasn’t good.
“Silver were given more favours than us, they were provided with accommodation yet we haven’t been given the same as organisers claim that it’s their policy not to provide such services to the hosts, this isn’t good at all,” he complained.
The bankers who also won the league in 2016 have grabbed the championship from 2017 champions, Griffin Youngsters, who failed to defend it following their failure to defend Blantyre district’s championship which would have seen them qualifying for the regional finals.
Meantime, First Capital Bank has promised to continue sponsoring the league in all the 14 districts across the country which have these leagues whose aim is to promote football from grassroots level.
