Award winning coach, Pasuwa
* We need to make the players raise their heads so that we can return to winning ways
* Football can be cruel at times — we had chances that we could have buried
By Duncan Mlanjira
Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa says he and his team will not look down or lose focus as a defeat is part of the game and there are still 21 more games to play in the TNM Super League 2024 title campaign.
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The People’s Team, who needed to win to edge closer to leaders Silver Strikers, conceded in a dramatic turn of events in the 90th minute after taking a corner which was defended and the Bankers’ received the ball and dashed in a counter attack before passing to Chinsinsi, who kept his fast pace before firing off the advancing goalkeeper.
“We must return to the dressing room and see the way forward,” he is quoted as saying by club media, Nyasabigbullets.com. “Remember, we still have 21 more games to play and we can’t say we have lost this one and then we look down.
“We need to make the players raise their heads so that we can return to winning ways.”
The Bullets Media takes note that just as last week against Moyale away in Mzuzu, where the team squandered many golden chances throughout the game and against Silver, they also dominated but were denied goals by heroic saves by the Bankers’ goalkeeper George Chikooka.
George Chikooka
Pasuwa is further quoted as saying: “Football can be cruel at times — we had chances that we could have buried. Unfortunately, we couldn’t and we were punished in the dying minutes.
“It’s the number of chances you take for one to win the game and for us to win, it was a matter of putting the ball into the net and we couldn’t. The opposition got the only chance and we were punished,” said the coach who also played down assertions that his charges were unsettled by some of questionable decisions from referee, Gift Chicco.
“At this level, the boys should be mentally strong. We need to play to win no matter what the referee is doing. We must not concentrate on what the referee is doing and yes, we lost concentration but again as football, we are playing one ball and we need to concentrate on that ball that we are playing for us to win.”
The club media asked him what are the team’s chances of retaining the championship— which will be his 6th if achieved — and Pasuwa is quoted as saying: “I wouldn’t make the players panic because if I do this, everyone in the house will panic.
.We need to go back and encourage each other, see the way forward, and then correct the mistakes.”
Tackling a question on whether the People’s Team are struggling because of last season’s quadruple success of the TNM Super League, FDH Bank Cup, Castel Challenge Cup and the Airtel Top 8, Pasuwa said: “Remember we played more games last year and we had several players on injury list and some of them are still injured, plus fresh injuries that we have suffered this year.
“As a result we are forced to make changes to every game. We can’t have the combinations we want because it’s a new team altogether and we are trying to come up with something strong.
“Today we have lost, we move on to the next one,” said the coach, whose historic quadruple success last season earned him two accolades — the TNM Super League 2023 Coach of the Year Award and the Malawi Sport Awards Non-Citizen of the Year accolade.
This was Silver Strikers’ first win in 11 years against the the People’s Team at Kamuzu Stadium and the feat has been achieved by Peter Mponda, who is Bullets former player as well as former member of its technical team under head coach Pasuwa.
The Bullets have recorded the first defeat of the season at home and they have 14 points from nine games and dropping to position five from four.
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