After playing second fiddle to their age-old rivals Be Forward Wanderers for months, champions Nyasa Big Bullets yesterday scaled to the summit of the TNM Super League table.
The People’s Team left it late to edge a strong willed Mzuni FC 3-2 at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre as the Nomads sung blues at Nankhaka ground in Lilongwe where they lost 2-0 to Blue Eagles.
Bullets now have 49 points from 23 matches in the 16-team domestic top-flight league, a point above the Lali Lubani Road outfit.
At Kamuzu Stadium, Mzuni appeared within sniffing distance from bagging a point as they came from two goals down to level the scores only for midfielder Chimwemwe Idana to snatch the winner in the seventh of the eight added minutes
Hassan Kajoke netted the first goal for Bullets six minutes into the match through a penalty awarded after he was brought down in the box.
Eight minutes later, he was on target again after being put through by Peter Banda.
Mzuni pulled one back in the 31st minute through Steve Madimba before Daniel Mhango equalised in the 80th minute.
Then Idana struck the late winner to the delight of his coach Callisto Pasuwa.
“I am happy that we have won the game, but again I am disappointed with how my boys conceded the two goals. It is disappointing,” he said.
Mzuni coach Gilbert Chirwa could not hide his disappointment, saying: “We are fighting for relegation and a point could have helped us and losing with a minute to go is very painful.”
At Nankhaka, the Area 30-based cops drew first blood in the 28th minute through their talisman Schumacher Kuwali with a strike of utter beauty. He fired home from outside the box connecting first time from a Vitumbiko Kumwenda cross and the ball squirmed past Nomads goalkeeper William Thole and then hit the post before sailing into the net.
By their lofty standards, the Nomads appeared out of sorts and their playmaker Fransisco Madinga was completely marked out of the game by former Flames left back Stevie Chagoma who never gave him a moment’s respite.
Eagles were two-up barely two minutes into the second half albeit in almost similar fashion when Foster Bitoni’s shot also hit the post before sailing into the net.
Sensing danger, the Nomads introduced their veteran midfielder Joseph Kamwendo for Vincent Nyangulu, who turned back the hands of time with a vintage display, but it was too little too late and the Eagles completed a double over the Nomads having won the first round encounter 1-3 in Blantyre.
Nomads head coach Bob Mpinganjira admitted that his charges were out of sorts.
“We didn’t play today. We made two costly mistakes and paid dearly.
“But that’s how football goes sometimes. You cannot always have it your way. It’s a bitter lesson and what this means is that we need to win our remaining games,” he said.
His Eagles counterpart, whose side is third with 44 points from 24 matches, said their plan worked to perfection.
“We told our boys to be relaxed and to go out there and enjoy their game. Our game plan was to attack and attack and not sit back,” he said.
