In front of a near-capacity crowd at the Bingu National Stadium on Sunday, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets made history by becoming the first team to reach four consecutive Airtel Top 8 Cup finals.
The People’s Team, the defending champions of the competition, romped to a 2-0 victory over Kamuzu Barracks to set up a final showdown against Silver Strikers who eliminated Mighty Mukuru Wanderers at the same venue on Saturday.
Just a minute into the game, Bullets break the deadlock in a brilliant fashion. The visitors had launched an offensive attack on Bullets, and once Pasuwa’s men won the ball, they launched a stunning counter-hurricane attack that originated from the right side of the field.
Babatunde Adepoju made a run towards the goal before setting up Kondowe, who made a simple finish to beat Hastings Banda, who was completely defenceless, 1-0.
Moments later, Crispin Mapemba had his long-range shot missing the upright with an inch in the 7th minute.
Despite conceding early, Charles Kamanga’s men settled down and took the game to Bullets, but whenever they were in transition, they easily lost the ball to Bullets, who were defending their goal with everything.
Most of the play was, however, concentrated on Bullets’s half, but Pasuwa men were very alert as they kept on halting every attack from the Capital City soldiers.
With 17 minutes played, Olson Kanjira saw his long-range shot missing Richard Chimbamba’s right-hand post with an inch for a goal kick.
After the half-hour mark, Kondowe should have doubled his tally when his attempt was saved by Banda, and from the rebound, Babatunde committed a foul on Herbert Wayekha inside the box.
At 35 minutes, Banda pulled another excellent save, this time around, denying Babatunde from increasing Bullets’s tally when the forward was found unmarked by Wongani Lungu’s diagonal pass.
The remaining minutes saw Bullets pressing for a goal. It was at this moment that Banda came into the fold with brilliant saves after the other.
In the 38th minute, he made a stunning save to deny Kondowe from doubling his tally to concede a corner kick, which the shot-stopper easily handled.
In the final five minutes, Bullets had one more chance to completely bury the visitors, but Banda was at it again with the final save of the half.
After the recess, Bullets brought in Blessings Mpokera for Mologeni while Sherrif Maulana and Christopher Mtambo for Martias Nyirenda and Chifundo Makawa.
KB started the half from where they stopped in the first half, keeping possession but failing to make the right decisions in the final third.
As for Bullets, it was just a matter of protecting their lead and possibly adding another goal to be on the safer side.
With time running out KB, midfielder Lloyd Mugala went wide with an ambitious shot from range in the 48th minute.
In the 53rd minute, Gomezgani Chirwa conceded a freekick when he brought down Sammy Chiponda closer to Bullets’ penalty box.
Hope Namadzunda stepped up to send the ball into the box, which was headed into the net by Kanjira, but his goal couldn’t stand as the second assistant referee, McHastings Kanjati raised his flag for offside. That was a warning to Bullets who got themselves organised to keep the door shut for Kamanga’s men.
Bullets had a chance to double the tally in the 67th minute when Petro made an excellent run to the right flank before sending a low cross to Babatunde, who was unmarked and was in a one-on-one situation with Banda but he failed to connect as the ball went out of the field for a throw-in.
Kamanga brought in Humphreys Minandi and Sammy Chibvunde for the injured Wayekha and Kanjira to try to add more firepower to their attacking area.
The defending champions were able to double their lead in the 73rd minute. KB conceded a freekick in the middle of the park, and Mpokera stepped up and fired straight at goal, beating Banda to his right-hand side in unbelievable circumstances. Nobody could believe how that goal went in, 2-0.
Bullets should have had two more goals in succession, but Kondowe, instead of passing to his teammates, opted to take matters into his own hands and ended up missing clear-cut chances.
Pasuwa made a triple substitution by introducing Chawanangwa Gumbo, Maxwell Phodo, and Chikumbutso Salima for Babatunde, Petro and Kondowe.
Salima’s introduction brought more rhythm to Bullets who ended up missing several goal-scoring opportunities.
Pasuwa brought in Lloyd Aaron for Wongani Lungu. The People’s Team had their final chance in the additional minutes when Salima dribbled past four KB players before setting up Phodo in a one-on-one situation, but the forward fired straight at Banda, who made a save.
Despite KB’s push for at least a goal, Bullets stood firm to advance to another cup final in the 2024 season.
