Silver Strikers coach Peter Mgangira believes his team will defend the 2025 TNM Super League title.
Mgangira, who rose into the head coach role in the current preseason following the departure of Peter Mponda, made the remarks on Saturday afternoon after his team played a goalless draw against Dedza Dynamos.
Asked whether he thinks his team can defend the title, Mgangira said “Of course all the players that were with us last season, I would say 95 percent they are here so why not?”
The game started lowly with both teams struggling to create scoring opportunities. The Bankers were first to create a meaningful chance on 20th minute when Nickson Mwase headed wide a good delivery from Macdonald Lameck’s free kick.
The Bankers had another opportunity on 31st minute when a powerful shot from new catch Precious Sambani hit the side netting.
The first shot on target came after 37 minutes when Binwell Katinji and Sambani exchanged passes before the former Bullets leftback whipped a powerful shot from the edge of the box, forcing Dedza Dynamos goalie Shangarai Thole to make a decent save.
The visitors came close to take the lead on 42nd minute when George Chikooka fumbled a 40-metres drive from Gift Magola and that was the last chance in the opening half of the game.
After the recess, both side changed almost entire of their teams, but the performances remained undesirable.
Chikooka was called into action again on 52nd minute, denying Magola a goal. Two minutes later Festus Duwe released Gift Chunga with a defense splitting pass but the winger failed to hit the target.
The best chance for the hosts came on 55th minute when the referee awarded Silver Strikers a penalty following Lughano Kaira’s foul on Gift Chunga but Binwell Katinji’s penalty was saved by Thole.
Moments later, the Bankers had another chance as Chunga’s shot in the box was again saved by the goalkeeper.
From there, chances became scarce until full time.
“It was a good game, I think Dedza Dynamos came with a purpose but we are happy that we are playing our usual game, of course we need to work more in our attack and then the combinations because some of the players haven’t been together due to national team engagements” said Mgangira.
On newly signed players, he said “They did very well, we see fans chanting his name despite playing for just 25 minutes, I think the boys are ready and they are here to compete”
To his part, Dedza Dynamos coach Andrew Bunya expressed satisfaction with the performance of his team.
“It was a very good game, the intensity was there, it was a passing game, both teams played beautiful football, chances were there but overall iam impressed”
Meanwhile, Bunya admitted that the main target for his team is to compete for titles this season.
