A lone strike from Maxwell Phodo inspired FCB Nyasa Big Bullets to a hard-fought 1-0 win over Mafco FC in a TNM Super League match played at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts were coming from their Northern Region tour, where they got four points from the possible six after beating Baka City 1-0 before playing out to a goalless draw against Mzuzu City Hammers, while Mafco came into this match straight from their 2-0 home win over Mighty Tigers FC.
What happened…
The hosts created their first opportunity in the 13th minute when Mologeni made an excellent run into the far right. The right-back delivered a cross into the box, which was flicked to Babatunde Adepoju by Yankho Singo, but the forward’s header went narrowly wide.
The defending champions were able to break the deadlock in the 15th minute in a brilliant fashion.
Babatunde was the architect of the goal. He won the ball from Stain Malata before spotting Phodo to the far left. The striker moved three steps before curving the ball beyond Christopher Mikuwa’s reach to the bottom corner, 1-0.
The game was being played with high intensity, but neither side created more goal-scoring opportunities up until the 24th minute when Stanley Billiat sent a very dangerous pass into the box, but Babatunde, Phodo, and Wongani Lungu all missed the ball when the goal was wide open.
In the 33rd minute, Bullets had a lucky escape when Crispin Mapemba was caught off-guard in the line of duty and allowed Mphatso Philemon to move clear of sight at the goal. However, the striker was denied by an excellent save from Innocent Nyasulu for a corner kick which was well defended by Gomezgani Chirwa.
The home team was awarded three back-to-back set pieces but failed to utilize them as Mikuwa was on top of his game without well-timed saves.
With four minutes left to play before recess, Lungu, who was having a fantastic game, found Phodo in the offensive half but instead of laying the ball down to Babatunde, he decided to take matters into his own hands and fired wide from close range.
After the recess, Bullets continued from where they left, pressing from all angles but they lacked the finishing composure in the final third.
With 49 minutes played, Mologeni did brilliantly when he delivered yet another excellent cross into the box and landed straight at Ernest Petro, who made a quick decision to shoot at goal only to be denied by Francis Black, who blocked the goal-bound shot.
Stereo Gondwe brought in Ben Mbewe for Auspicious Kadzongola to try to take control of the midfield which was mostly dominated by Lungu, Petro, and Singo.
But the visitors posed no threat at all as they were completely closed down by Chirwa’s led back-four.
Lungu should have doubled Bullets’ lead when the attacking midfielder made his way into Mafco’s penalty box only to blast his effort over the crossbar for a goal-kick.
At the other end, Mafco had an opportunity to pounce on Pasuwa’s men when Duncan Mwale’s freekick met Philemon inside the box. But the striker headed wide to frustrate the visiting technical panel.
Pasuwa brought in Salima and Chawanangwa Gumbo for Billiat and Petro in the 70th minute.
Immediately after his introduction, Salima thought he had won a penalty when he dribbled past Vitumbiko Phiri and Paul Ndlovu before being brought down inside the penalty box but referee Cassim Shaibu waved play-on.
Moments later, Gumbo had a chance to punish the visitors when defenders widened the gap and left the goal unattended, but the midfielder, instead of shooting at the goal, passed the ball to Mologeni, who was offside.
At 80 minutes, Pasuwa replaced Phodo for Gamphani. Gamphani’s introduction added more firepower as the winger saw his powerful shot well saved by Mikuwa.
In the 84th minute, the winger was at it again as his brilliant run found Babatunde on the edge of the box but the striker failed to shoot at goal as he was impeded by Ndlovu.
In the additional minutes, things took an ugly turn when Gamphani delivered a very dangerous pass into the box which was missed by Babatunde and Lungu.
However, Mikuwa deliberately punched Lungu, and when the midfielder was down, two Mafco FC players stamped their boot studs on the helpless Lungu, who sustained deep cuts in the process.
However, Shaibu only issued a yellow card to Mikuwa and took no action on the two players who did the act with the motive of injuring the player who was indeed taken out of the field as he could not continue.
Despite this, Bullets held on to collect points and kept their third clean sheet in a row for the first time this season.
The win sees Bullets maintaining their third position with 37 points from 22 games while the Salima-based soldiers are stuck in 9th position with 30 points from 23 games.
At Civo Stadium, second-half strikes from Gift Chunga and Akeem Abioye secured all the points for Hammers over Kamuzu Barracks to move up to fourth in the standings.
It was a closely contested match as both teams had set their sights on moving into the top four no wonder there were no goals in the opening half.
However, Chunga struck first in the 58th minute before Abioye’s goal in the 65th minute to seal the win for the Mzuzu-based side.
At Dedza Stadium, three second-half goals from Edward Dakalira, Ibrahim Sadik, and Lennox Kiwambe saw Dedza Dynamos hammering Tigers FC to move 11th in the table with 27 points, three points above their opponents in the race for survival.
This was Tigers’s second straight loss away from home after they lost 2-0 to Mafco FC last week. They are 12th in the table with 24 points from 23 games.
