Silver Strikers and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers on Sunday afternoon won their respective games to ignite the 2023 TNM Super League title race as the season is fast-approaching the last phase.
FCB Nyasa Big Bullets who are the defending Champions and the leaders on Saturday had a successful revenge on Chitipa United at the Kamuzu Stadium to open a three-point gap over Wanderers before the Nomads narrowly beat Dedza Dynamos Salima Sugar Football Club on Sunday afternoon at the Dedza Stadium to level up the points with their sworn neighbors.
After losing to the Inkhalamu Zga Ku Chitipa in the first leg in Karonga, Bullets were out with full force to take revenge on their visitors and goals from Kenyan Centre-half, Collins Okumu and Lanjesi Nkhoma were enough to condemn Chitipa to their eighth away defeat this season. The people’s team are yet to lose six points to one team in a single season for over a decade following Saturday’s win.
On Sunday, Mark Harrison’s boys were dogging for the points to keep their title hopes alive. Francisco Madinga was the rescuer for the Nomads in front of a fully-packed Dedza Stadium with his first half gorgeous finish after receiving a wise pass from Wisdom Mpinganjira to beat towering Donnex Mwakasinga.
The goal was enough to get Wanderers back to the winning ways after dropping points in their last two games against Moyale Barracks and Silver Strikers. Dedza have just won one game in their latest seven outings in all competitions, including defeats to Bangwe All Stars and FCB Nyasa Big Bullets.
Mark Simon Harrison said despite that his charges failed to play good football, three points were all that they needed to keep putting pressure on Bullets.
“These are big points you know. Any points at this time, I just said that we’re gonna keep playing game by game, keep taking the points, keep pressure into Bullets.
“Like I said last two weeks ago, I said don’t give it up, we just have to keep winning points as we can and see what will happen. You know, the league is in Bullets’ hands, that’s simple but it’s up to them to lose it. We just have to keep going, four games to go,” he said.
Wanderers became the first team to walk away with full points from Dedza Stadium this season and Gilbert Chirwa accepted the defeat. He said injury of their top striker, Clement Nyondo who has 14 league goals has also affected the team’s performance.
“It was a fair game to both sides but our friends used their experience to get the result today,” Chirwa said.
“We are missing[Clement] Nyondo. He is a very good striker and he is a top goal scorer. He is our striker but for today, we have to accept that we have lost the game.”
In Blantyre, after a tight contested match in the first half, the Central Bankers used the last 20 minutes to chalk maximum points over Mighty Tigers at the Kamuzu Stadium, their 13th over the Kau-Kau boys since 2008.
Patrick Macheso pounced on Chimwemwe Idana’s ball before Emmanuel Kaunga buried the game, 7 minutes before the final whistle.
The Area 47 based side sits third on the table with 46 points from 25 games while Tigers missed the chance to go into the safety zone. They remain 11th, just three points off the relegation zone.
Assistant Coach, Peter Mgangira who was in the dug out for the team following Pieter De Jongh’s red card in their game against Silver Strikers, said their target is to keep winning their games without looking at the title race.
He explained, “We are not looking at the Championship, we are looking at a game by game. If you win your game by game, you can win the title. Winning this game is not special, we are just happy that we have taken three points. We are playing at the pressure of winning the Championship.”
Christopher Nyambose, Coach for Tigers said lack of squad depth continues to affect the season for the “Ana a Mu Mpanda”.
“We were not good technically and our opponents dominated and outplayed us in Midfield. Central midfield is the most important part of the game.
“We tried to talk to the players at halftime but most of our players have knocks. We don’t have much [squad] depth, Ben Manyozo is out, maybe for the whole season. So, we are finding it difficult to replace the injured players,” said Nyambose.
Meanwhile, Mchinji based side, Extreme FC were the first team to face a chop from the super league after their 2-1 defeat to Red Lions at the Balaka stadium in a relegation-bound clash.
Veteran Deus Mkutu and Mike Kaziputa scored for the Zomba based Soldiers while Beston Jimu’s late strike was not enough to rescue a point for Andrew Bunya’s team who remain slumped to the foot of the table with 18 points having played 27 games.
Red Lions, Moyale Barracks, Civil Service United, Ekwendeni Hammers and Mighty Waka Waka Tigers will be looking for survival as two of them are supposed to be relegated from the elite league by the end of the season.
Pasuwa Admits Struggling to Manage the Squad’ Amidst Injury Crisis
Despite having the better odds of defending the league this season, Kalisto Pasuwa is still not comfortable enough on retaining the title with seven games before wrapping up the season due to the injury crisis that he is facing at the Club.
The Zimbabwean mentor last week said it is “now a crime” for them to play in the CAF Champions League after facing congested fixtures and he attributed the injuries to the games that they are playing every two to three days.
“I’m not comfortable enough because I am still struggling to see how I can manage my squad. We are having injuries each and every game. So, I am fully focused on managing the players rather than the race because we have a long way to go before wrapping up the season,” said.
Mike Mkwate has been ruled out for the whole season after suffering a fibula bone fracture against Silver Strikers in the Ibongetse Castel Challenge Cup launch. Alick Lungu has missed the major part of this season while Stanley Billiati and Blessings Mpokera returned to the team during their FDH Bank Cup final against Mafco after being on the sideline for over four weeks. Ernest Petro has now joined the injury list while Precious Sambani has been an On and Off player.
