* Big Bullets dug deep yesterday to come from a goal behind and win the match with first hero being Babatunde Adepoju
* Who leveled the scores in the 77th minute, 20 minutes after Red Arrows’ Ricky Banda scored in the 57th minute
By Duncan Mlanjira
Nyasa Big Bullets coach, Kalisto Pasuwa — while happy to record another African football victory by beating Zambia’s top club, Red Arrows 2-1 at Bingu National Stadium yesterday — says he anticipates a tough assignment away at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka for the second leg of CAF Champions League 2024 preliminary round — thus they need to prepare well.
Advertisement
Big Bullets dug deep yesterday to come from a goal behind and win the match with first hero being Babatunde Adepoju, who leveled the scores in the 77th minute, 20 minutes after Red Arrows’ Ricky Banda scored in the 57th minute.
Precious Phiri then rose to the occasion five minutes later (82′) in what was a huge turn around as Nyasa Big Bullets went on to defend their lead ahead of the return leg set for Lusaka next Saturday.
A post-match report on nyasabigbullets.com club media platform quotes the 2023 Coach of the Year as acknowledging that Red Arrows will be tough at their backyard, emphasising: “We need to prepare well for the battle ahead — we have a plan B for it and the only thing that we need to talk to our boys about is the hostile environment of playing at Heroes Stadium.
“However, the majority of these players are used to playing under such difficult circumstances,” he said, adding that the team experienced the same situation against TP Mazembe in last edition’s preliminary round when they succumbed to four goals in opening 20 minutes in their away second leg match in Lubumbashi.
“I think the players learnt their lessons and they know what they are going to experience in Zambia,” Pasuwa said, adding that against the experienced Red Arrows it was a game they “gave the opponents so much respect”.
Advertisement
“We were sitting deep and when they scored, we added numbers in terms of attack and yes, we got the two goals. They were very tactical opponents, who were able to keep the ball away from us and we were dropping to get it in our defensive zone.
“The second half, the players were good, we were pressing them high and we got the goals. It was a game of tactics but very tough for us as the home team. Glad that we won the game.”
The 2024 quadruple winning coach, that included winning the TNM Super League for the 6th successive seasons, alluded that the goal that the Arrows scored was through a defensive lapse when Bullets defenders failed to stop the Arrows’ forward Ricky Banda, who was pressing from the centre of the box into the penalty box.
“That’s the most painful thing in football where one mistake, you are punished,” Pasuwa is quoted as saying by nyasabigbullets.com club media platform. “That’s what the [CAF] Champions League is all about.
“It’s good that the [players] know that with this [away] goal, we can be punished further. We need to work on this because if you have watched the goals that we have been conceding, they are similar.
“We have tried to talk to our central defenders to work on this and also we thought that having one of the experienced players in the team would make us very solid, but we are still not good enough to defence our goals.”
Advertisement
He also bemoaned the team’s proneness to injuries where a player comes back from recovery and plays one or two games but “the next thing, he is out injured and the next game we use different player trying to change combinations”.
“In doing so, we are failing to find someone who can lead that defence, hence at times, you see us putting Gomezgani Chirwa in the central defence.”
Meanwhile, Nyasa Big Bullets will test their mettle on Wednesday when they face Moyale Barracks in defence of their FDH Bank Cup in the semifinal match at Bingu National Stadium before flying out for Lusaka the next day to meet Red Arrows, who are CECAFA Kagame Cup 2024 champions.
Red Arrows FC participated as a guest side in the tournament hosted by Tanzania in which the Zambia League champions defeated Rwanda’s APR FC 10-9 in penalty shootouts in the final that ended 1-1 in 120 minutes at the KMC Stadium in Dar es Salaam last month.
Again it was Ricky Banda who broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute before APR FC’s Mamadou Sy leveled the scores in additional time to send the match into extra time where the two teams couldn’t be separated either.
The second leg of CAF Champions League 2024 preliminary round on Saturday is certainly going to be a nail-biting encounter as alluded to by Pasuwa.
National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka
According to bullet updates of the match by Nyasa Big Bullets Club Media, Bullets pressed for an early goal and in the 5th minute offensive, Maxwell Phodo shot wide and he was back just two minutes later but his shot inside the six-yard box was well saved by Red Arrows shot-stopper, Charles Kalumba.
Bullets kept dominating play as there wasn’t much of an attack from the visitors who were yet to test Richard Chimbamba in goals for the hosts.
Phodo only needed a strong touch to put the Bullets in the lead but his weaker attempt was easily saved by Kalumba in the early stages of the match.
Advertisement
The visitors threatened in the 25th minute through Ackim Mumba but his shot was well saved by Chimbamba, the first serious attempt at goal from Red Arrows and a mistake from Chimbamba in the 30th nearly punished Bullets but he was quick to make amends with a save, denying Godfrey Ngwenya a chance to score inside the penalty box.
Phodo was back in the 41th minute but his shot well saved by Kalumba again and two minutes later the visitors’ Brian Chilimina made his way into Bullets’s defensive zone before releasing a thunderous shot that was well saved by Chimbamba for a corner-kick which Precious Sambani easily defended.
After recess, Arrows’ goalkeeper Kalumba denied Precious Phiri a chance to score in the 48th with a brilliant save to deny the winger who did everything right to connect Maxwell Phodo’s cross.
In the 51st, goalkeeper Chimbamba came to Bullets rescue when he cleared a dangerous cross bound for a goal to keep the game at 0-0 while in the 55th, Nickson Nyasulu made a goal saving tackle when he intercepted a very dangerous cross from Ackim Mumba.
Then Red Arrows’ Ricky Banda scored in the 57th minute and after three minutes (60th), coach Kalisto Pasuwa made some changes replacing Phodo and Ronald Chitiyo for Ephraim Kondowe and Stanley Billiat and it changed complexion of the game as Babatunde began his in roads sending his header over the crossbar first before the final touch to score in the 77th.
Babatunde equalised with a powerful shot inside the penalty box after he received a brilliant pass from Yankho Singo before releasing the powerful shot, beating Red Arrows’ goalkeeper Kalumba to the far right.
Precious Phiri added the second goal in the 82th — a huge relief for the hosts but precarious lead ahead of the second leg since Red Arrows have earned a very important away goal and just need to beat Bullets by 1-0 to proceed.
The winner between the two neighbouring domestic league champions will proceed to second prelimary round where they will face Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) champions TP Mazembe, who ousted Nyasa Big Bullets in the second preliminary round of the 2023 edition.
For coach Pasuwa’s charges to reach that second preliminary round, they booted out Dragon FC of Equatorial Guinea in the first preliminary round.
Advertisement