Former Super League side Chitipa United gave away a lead to resilient Mayamiko Stars at Luwinga Technical Center in Mzuzu to put a spanner into their promotion efforts in the Northern Region Football Association Simso-Innobuild League final phase.
The game started on a high note in an entertaining first half seeing both teams missing several scoring opportunities early on.
But it was Chitipa’s Alex Benson who gave the visitors a well-deserved lead via a penalty 15 minutes into the second half.
And after several missed opportunities by the home side, an eventual equalizer arrived in spectacular fashion as George Masebo floated into the net a well taken freekick with ten minutes to go.
Both teams tried to find the winning goal in final stages of the match but the 1-1 was the end result.
After the match, Coach for Mayamiko Stars William Msowoya blamed officiation as the reason they dropped points.
“It was a difficult game but the officiation was very bad today as the referees gave our opponents a penalty and he failed to give us a clear one,” a visibly angry Msowoya said.
On his part, Coach for Chitipa United Gift Nathaniel Mkamanga said his team is still on track to get back to TNM Super League despite drawing the game.
“We were leading but our keeper slipped and we conceded with minutes to go but all in all we are on track, we will work on finishing because we had a number of chances but we failed to utilize,” said Mkamanga.
The result means Chitipa and Mayamiko have 4 points each and on second and third positions respectively after two games.
Both teams will look to improve to catch Mzimba United who have taken the early initiative in the promotion phase by topping the standings with 7 points from 3 games.
