* Silver Strikers Ladies lead with 15 points from five games — a 100% winning record, while Kukoma Ntopwa Women have 9 points from three wins and two losses
* Trailing the leaders on 2nd place are Ascent Soccer with 12 points from four wins and one loss, and are away to to meet MK Academy tomorrow
By Duncan Mlanjira
Standing in the path of National Bank of Malawi (NBM) Women’s Premiership title race leaders, Silver Strikers Ladies, are 3rd-placed Kukoma Ntopwa Women as the the race for the inaugural championship resumes after a long break.
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To be played on Sunday at Mpira Stadium — and kicking off at 10h00 — this is the headline fixture for Match Week 6 and being at home, it is a huge advantage for Kukoma Women — who are three points behind the leaders.
Silver Strikers Ladies lead with 15 points from five games — a 100% winning record, while Kukoma Ntopwa Women have 9 points from three wins and two losses.
Trailing the leaders on 2nd place are Ascent Soccer with 12 points from four wins and one loss, and are also away to Mzuzu Stadium to meet MK Academy tomorrow morning from 10h00. MK Academy are in relegation zone at 9th place with 1 point from a draw and four losses.
On 4th place are Mighty Wanderers Queens, sharing 9 points with Kukoma Ntopwa Women and separated by goals scored. Wanderers Queens won three of their five games while losing two and are also on the road to face Civil Service Women at Civo Stadium on Sunday kicking off 10h00.
This match was earlier scheduled for tomorrow but has been shifted to Sunday since Civo Stadium will be used for public screening of live coverage of the swearing-in of President-elect, Peter Mutharika to take place at Kamuzu Stadium.
From five games, Civil Service Women won one, drew three and lost once to garner 6 points. This match is certainly a must-win as they are bound to tie on 9 points with Mighty Wanderers Queens and/or Kukoma Ntopwa Women if they will lose against leaders, Silver Strikers Ladies.
Also needing a win to jump up the ladder are 6th-placed FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Women, who have 7 points from two wins, one draw and one loss and are at home on Sunday hosting bottom of the table Topik Academy from 10h00 at Kamuzu Stadium.
Topik Academy haven’t won or drawn and this encounter will be quite interesting to see if they can pull off a huge upset against the Bullets Women, who are still touted as contenders for the inaugural title so far at this stage.
On 5th place with 8 points are MDF Lionesses, earned from two wins, two draws and one loss, who are hosts at Champion Stadium on Saturday meeting Moyale Sisters — kicking off at 10h00. Moyale are on the relegation zone on 8th place with 4 points from one win, one draw and two losses.
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This far with four matches left to wrap up the first round, no team can afford to drop points both at the top and the bottom. Silver Ladies will be looking to maintain their 100% winning record as their lead is very narrow at three points away.
They are also leading in goals scored at 15 and have a very tight defence that has conceded just three goals so far. So too for Ascent Soccer, who also have a meanest defence which has conceded three goals while scoring 13.
It’s almost a two-horse race as at 9 points each, Kukoma Ntopwa and Mighty Wanderers Queens have a lot of catch-up to narrow the gap in the quest for title, which will earn the champions the qualification for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Champions League.
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