Playing at Dedza Dynamos has been ephialtes for the defending Champions, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets but they are starting their title defense with an away trip to Dedza Dynamos Football Club.
While the people’s team have been “partly” enjoying their first fixtures of the season for the last decade starting with a game at “infamous” Dedza is a fixture that they would opt to postpone if the chance were given to them.
Kalisto Pasuwa has been enjoying the rich vein of form in Malawi, claiming five championships in five straight years, but proclaiming their grand ambition of going into places in the International tournaments did little to make it a reality, as the club transitions out of its galácticos era, there is an overriding feeling that the expensively assembled jigsaw is falling into place.
Dedza Dynamos is on the hunt for a fine start to the new season after surviving the banishment to the interior league towards the end of the league.
Can Bullets move out of Dedza Stadium’s trap?
After having a successful transfer window, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets are looking to have a winging start to the season. Pasuwa’s side roped in seven players ahead of the new campaign including two Zimbabwean defenders and the return of Babatunde Adepoju.
Bullets are dogging for their first win at Dedza Stadium and they have lost three of their last four visits to the venue.
Fletcher Bandawe nearly stunned them before switching to Civil Service United in 2015. His header was canceled by Davie Ng’ambi as points were shared.
Despite the draw, the performance was far away from convincing but Dedza’s profligacy left them in disbelief, the then Head Coach for the team, Millias Pofera conceded in the post-match interviews.
“I can’t say that I’m satisfied with the performance of the team because we played better than Bullets and we created several chances,” he said.
In 2018, Masters Security ended Nyasa Big Bullets’ unbeaten run in the TNM Super League when they claimed a 1-0 home win over the league leaders at Dedza Stadium.
Francis Mkonda’s second-half goal was enough for the security men to condemn the Blantyre-based side to a 1-0 defeat, the first defeat in the campaign and the second defeat to Masters Security in the same year.
In 2022, Kalisto Pasuwa saw his 37 unbeaten run ending in vail in 2022 when they lost Mafco FC. The game was initially scheduled to be played at the Chitowe Stadium but was rescheduled to Dedza as the initial venue was occupied. Zikani Sichinga’s strike was enough for Mafco FC to deny Bullets an invincible season.
Pasuwa and his arsenals returned to Dedza to break the jinx last season but they moved out while breaking in tears. Clement Nyondo’s early strike was enough for Dedza Dynamos to get the win and it was enough for them to survive in the league.
Can Dedza Stadium power Dynamos to halt Bullets’ unbeaten run in opening fixtures?
Dedza Stadium and Dedza football faithfuls have been remarkable since Dedza Dynamos started using the venue as their home ground. The figures that are announced after games are always plausible and the fans are potent.
FCB Nyasa Big Bullets are unbeaten in their last 11 opening games of the season, the last time they lost in the opening game was in 2012 when they succumbed to the in-form Silver Strikers 4-0 with Asedi Ayami claiming a brace while Rodrick Gonani and Dave Moya scored a goal each.
Bullets recorded a historical quadruple last season, retaining the FDH Bank Cup, TNM Super League, and winning the Airtel Top 8 Cup and Castel Challenge Cup, however, Pasuwa has asked his players to step up as other teams are aiming to challenge their pre-eminence.
“We had a good season but that is gone. We need to step up for us to do well. The new season will depend on us to say, did we prepare ourselves to go a step further on what we were doing last year, if we didn’t we might falter and end up losing everything.
“We are saying, us as Bullets, any team that we face is motivated, we even struggled with Extreme FC or other teams which were relegated, so we need to improve ourselves,” said Pasuwa before their game against Silver Strikers in the NBS Bank Charity Shield Cup.
Dedza Dynamos Football Club only lost one game at home last season, losing 1-0 to Mighty Mukuru Wanderers. Chitipa United, Civil Service United, Red Lions, Blue Eagles, Kamuzu Barracks, and Mafco were culprits in Dedza Dynamos’ crowd last season.
Dedza had only nine wins last season, and seven of them were recorded at home, they only beat Silver Strikers and Extreme FC away from home.
With the league just hours away from kick-off, TNM Plc, the official sponsors of the league are still in their blankets as they are yet to announce the package of the new deal.
The Telecommunication company is said to be unhappy with Sulom’s conduct of landing a deal with Premier Bet without informing them and they are accusing the league runners of breach of contract.
TNM Plc is arguing that Sulom has channeled some of the benefits of the sponsors to Premier Bet.
Dedza managed to amass four points over the Champions last season after a 2-all stalemate at Kamuzu Stadium before a famous win at home. Overall, Bullets have two wins in this fixture, a defeat and a draw.
