Defender Gomezgani Chirwa, midfielder Chawanangwa Gumbo and striker Ephraim Kondowe make up the nomination list for the Hubertus Clausius Player of the Month award for August.
The trio massively impressed in August for The People’s Team as Kalisto Pasuwa’s men won 21 points from seven matches in all competitions, scoring 11 goals and conceding only two.
Such rich form saw us advance to the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League, finish top of the TNM Super League table and book a ticket to the semi-finals of the FDH Bank Cup.
For some of the catalysts of that terrific run of results, our technical panel picked Gumbo, Kondowe and Chirwa as nominees for the POTM award for August.
We take a look at how the trio performed last month.
Ephraim Kondowe
For the first time in his five-month-old Bullets career, the centre forward has earned a nomination for the club’s monthly award after his heroic performances in August.
Three minutes after his introduction from the bench, our number 33 scored an equalizer against Mighty Tigers on 2 August to salvage a Super League point as the tie finished 1-1.
Three days later, Kondowe came off the bench against Extreme FC at the Civo Stadium and went on to score a last-minute equalizer and forced the FDH Bank Cup quarter-final tie into penalty shoot-outs which we won 4-2.
Four days later, the striker put up a spirited performance in the goalless draw away at Mafco where he was incredibly unlucky not to have been on target.
That is just before he scored a solo goal in our 1-0 victory against Dragon FC to help us progress to the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe with a 3-0 victory on aggregate following a 2-0 win in the first leg away in Equatorial Guinea.
During Bullets’ final fixture of the month played at home against Civo, Kondowe, who has asserted himself as a super sub, levelled things up a few moments after being introduced from the bench as we trailed 2-1 in the second half and went on to inspire The People’s Team to a 3-2 comeback win as Mwaungulu scored the winner.
Out of August, Kondowe scored four precious goals for Maule and deserves his nomination.
Chawanangwa Gumbo
The former Ekwendeni Hammers captain steadily continues to break into The People’s Team by building up playing time with rainbow performances whenever given time.
He featured in six out of the seven matches Bullets played in August, including appearances in both legs against Dragon FC in the CAF Champions League and played his part quite well.
The young midfielder has never had such a run of games for Bullets in a single month since joining us in November and that says it about how good he is becoming in our red and white colours.
With his performances in August, Gumbo has not only earned the nomination for the monthly award but was also in Patrick Mabedi’s latest Malawi provisional squad for the Flames’ last Group D match against Guinea on 9th September at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Gomezgani Chirwa
The speedy wingback had quite a solid month in August as he was involved in all seven matches Bullets played.
After making waves last season, Chirwa continues to be outstanding for us with inspiring rearguard and offensive action in matches.
He may not have the same statistical record he had last year in terms of goals and assists but the fan-loved defender remains key for us and his efforts surely make his nomination one that he deserves.
How to vote
Pick your outstanding performer by sending the POM+Name of the nominee to 441. Each SMS costs MK50 only. The nominee with the highest votes wins the monthly award which is sponsored by Hubertus Clausius Malawi.
