* If Bullets (with 14 points) beat Silver, they will earn the 3rd spot — thus pushing Mzuzu City Hammers (16 points) to 4th
* Wanderers beat Dedza Dynamos 3-1 to move to 4th but if Bullets win they will be pushed back to 6th
By Duncan Mlanjira
After achieving a remarkable 2-0 win over Mighty Wanderers last week at home Mzuzu Stadium, Mzuzu City Hammers were surprisingly hammered 1-2 by debutantes FOMO FC away at Mulanje Park yesterday for the newcomers to move from precarious 13th place to 11th as they fight to remain in the top flight TNM Super League.
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The Hammers maintained their 3rd position on the log table — but ahead of the match between 5th-placed defending champions Nyasa Big Bullets and league leaders Silver Strikers at Kamuzu Stadium this afternoon.
If the Bullets (with 14 points) beat the Bankers they will earn the 3rd spot — thus pushing Mzuzu City Hammers (16 points) to 4th and Mighty Wanderers to 5th, who beat Dedza Dynamos at Kamuzu Stadium yesterday to move from 6th to 4th.
Another debutante in the top flight league, Creck Sporting travelled back to base in Lilongwe from Chitowe Stadium in Nkhotakota after beating MAFCO to move from 10th position to 8th with 11 points from four wins, two draws and three losses.
An interesting fixture today is at Mpira Stadium between two bottom sides — Bangwe All Stars (15th with three points) and Chitipa United (14th with five points) — which if Bangwe win, they will move one step up but a draw or loss, the status quo will remain.
Coach Meck Mwase captured during the match
All eyes were on interim head coach Meck Mwase to see if his tactics would resurrect the misfortunes Mighty Wanderers have gone through in the past eight matches.
Before the match, they were on 6th position with 12 points from three wins, three draws and two losses, a situation that led to resignation of head coach, Nsanzwirimo Ramadhan, who was replaced in the interim by his assistant, Mwase.
The Lali Lubani Road club’s fans were abuzz with excitement when their new signing, Cameroonian forward, Sama Thierry Tanjong was going to be given his debut match — he did very little to the point of being substituted at the beginning of the second half.
Wanderers showed their intent of winning the match by dominating play right from the start that saw Christopher Jaccama Kumwembe rising to head home a cross from Wisdom Mpinganjira in the 3rd minute.
But Dedza Dynamos replied after a marvelous counter attack in the 19th minute capitalising on a defensive lapse on the part of the Nomads’ defence
In the 43rd minute goal scorer Kumwembe couldn’t continue play after picking up and injury and was replaced by Vincent Nyangulu and the substitution followed at the start of the second half by bringing in Isaac Kaliati — who became hero of the day by scoring a brace.
The super-sub received a pass outside the box in the 51st minute, swivelled from his marker and unleashed a thunderbolt to the top corner of the goal completely beating goalkeeper Anthony Singini, who stopped his attempt of stopping the shot.
He was back in the 64th minute when he headed in from a corner kick and his subsequent performance for the rest of the match earned him the Man of the Match award of K150,000 from Smile Life Insurance Company Limited.
This afternoon’s match between Silver Strikers and Nyasa Bullets will see if one would ended their unbeaten run in eight games played, or if both will remain so in case of a draw.
The Bankers lead with 22 points — four ahead of 2nd-place Kamuzu Barracks, who beat Karonga United 2-1 on Thursday and eight points ahead of the Bullets.
They target to tighten their grip of their position when they face defending champions and coach Peter Mponda took cognizance ahead of the match that it won’t be an easy walk in the park considering that the opponents “are very strong when playing at Kamuzu Stadium”, as quoted Silver Strikers Media.
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It has been an action-packed month of May for the Bankers in which they won all four of their — against Baka City (2-0), Creck Sporting Club (2-0), Mighty Wanderers (2-0), and Karonga United (4-2) — and they target to guard their good run into June.
They have won seven games and drawn once while the Bullets — who aim to retain the title for the 6th consecutive season and their 17th since the top flight league was formed in 1986 — have won just won three and drawn 5.
Last season, the Bullets won a historic quadruple — the TNM Super League, FDH Bank Cup, Castel Challenge Cup, the Airtel Top 8 as well as the season opener, the FAM NBS Bank Charity Shield 2023 — as well as this year’s FAM NBS Charity Shield after beating Silver Strikers through post-match penalties.
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