FCB Nyasa Big Bullets kick-start the TNM Super League second-round campaign with a home fixture against Moyale Barracks at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The People’s Team finished the opening round in fourth position of the table with 23 points from 15 games after five wins, eight draws and two defeats.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s men will go into Sunday’s match looking for all points to keep our title hopes alive, as we trail league leaders Silver Strikers with 14 points.
Facing Moyale, the defending champions must overcome a side currently enjoying massive form in the league through their prolific forward, Emmanuel Allan.
This match will serve as a rehearsal for the FDH Bank Cup semi-final tie, scheduled for August 21 at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe where the two teams will battle for a place in the final.
In the league, Bullets and The Lions of Kaning’ina are separated by a point in the standings, with the opposition sitting in seventh place with 22 points.
FORM GUIDE
For the first time this season, Pasuwa’s men, who won every domestic trophy last year, registered three successive victories, in the league and the FDH Bank Cup.
After losing 2-1 away to Karonga United in the league in July, we went on to defeat Mighty Mukuru Wanderers 2-1 then Bangwe All Stars 2-0 before defeating Civil Service United 1-0.
Our opponents beat Baka City 2-1, drew 1-1 against Bangwe and recorded a 0-0 stalemate against Silver Strikers.
They also advanced to the FDH Cup semis after beating Lube Masters 2-1 to book a date with Bullets.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The game of football is played within four white lines of the field, and every game presents new challenges and opportunities.
However, the history books also provide content whenever matches of this nature come about, and we gathered some statistics ranging from the 2008 season to date, which The People’s Team has mostly dominated.
Of the last 30 matches between the two sides, Bullets have won 19 and Moyale three times, sharing the spoils in eight meetings.
The People’s Team has scored 49 goals against Sunday’s opponents while conceding 19.
In the 2023 season, Bullets were 3-1 winners over Moyale at Kamuzu Stadium, courtesy of a strike each from Nkhoma, Hassan Kajoke and Anthony Mfune. We completed a double over the soldiers in the return leg with a hard-earned 3-2 win at Rumphi Stadium through Ephraim Kondowe’s brace and a lone strike from Nkhoma to edge Bullets closer to a fifth straight league title, which we eventually won at the end of our quadruple-winning season.
In the opening round of this term, the two teams played out to a goalless draw at Mzuzu Stadium, a match Pasuwa’s men dominated but were not clinical enough to convert the plenty of chances created.
Bullets’ highest-scoring game against Moyale was in the 2020/21 season when we hammered the visitors 5-1 at Kamuzu Stadium.
As for the soldiers, the last time they recorded a win over Bullets was in the 2020/21 season at Mzuzu Stadium courtesy of a lone strike from Lloyd Njaliwa, who is now in Mozambique.
Summary of results
Bullets’ wins: 19
Moyale’s wins: 3
Drawn matches: 8
Highest-scoring match: Bullets 5-1 Moyale (2020/21 season).
WHAT MICHAEL NGORE SAID AHEAD OF THE MATCH
The first assistant coach believes Bullets will carry on the momentum of the final first-round matches going into the final half of the season.
“It has been a rough first half, but days have changed. We have started seeing some changes and hope that momentum can carry us through. Playing Moyale Barracks is one of the toughest games that we can ever have at Kamuzu [Stadium] but as Bullets, we always approach our games the same way. No game is easy for us, every game is like a cup final, so we will take them head-on as we have always been doing.
“Despite losing those points [in the first round], I believe the boys have been giving their all but at times, things may not go the way you like but as Bullets, we never go half-hearted, we always give our full attention to every game,” he stated.
This will be the first of the two meetings between the two teams this month as we will also face off in the FDH Bank Cup but Ngore believes these two matches are different.
“Every match we play is always important to us. The good thing about the two games we are talking about is that they are from two different competitions. The first one is the league. Yes, it may have a little bit of pressure on us because of how things have been, but I believe Bullets will always rise to the occasion.
“The second game is a cup game. Cup games will always have pressure on everyone. They want to win it, we want to defend it as well. So, that one will be different because we will also approach it on the same page where everyone is having the same kind of pressure. It might even be better for us because the pressure can be a little bit downsized because we are the defending champions. But the pressure of trying to defend it will always be there for us. I am sure we will approach the games differently but positively.”
Pasuwa’s deputy also believes that the recent turn of events, in which we have won two important cup games and our final first-round league match, will motivate the players to start the final half of the season on a high note.
“We cannot take away the fact that motivation for these boys was long overdue because we were not doing well and they lost their confidence but if you are doing well, the confidence will come naturally and for those boys, what we think and what we say to them is to be having an intrinsic motivation that comes from within.
“You know that feeling of winning on its own brings a lot of confidence. When we talk about motivation mostly, we talk about confidence. So, when you are losing games, or drawing games, you lose your confidence but when you start winning again, you regain your confidence.
“I think you saw how the boys approached the derby [against Wanderers], they were very positive. You also saw how they played another tough game against Civil; they were motivated to win the game. It was them who fought hard to avoid another draw and they fought until the end and got the result. So that’s the same mentality that we have.
“We are still pushing for the league and we will see what will happen in the end. The 30th game will decide the winner and we are not giving up. We are still fighting for that one, we will not look down,” he added.
The defending champions are unbeaten against Moyale in the last decade, but Ngore was quick to dismiss an assertion that we are favourites going into this encounter.
“You know Bullets being Bullets, every match we go as favourites. But having ‘the favourite’ tag is not enough. We need to play, we need to fight for that favourite tag, we need to fight for the badge. So, our motivation is to defend the badge of FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and what it means to us as the team and to our multitude of fans who come to every game to support us, we always think about them.
“We know there is someone who is down there in Chitipa who has never seen Blessings Mpokera or Gomezgani Chirwa playing, but he knows there is Gomezgani Chirwa who is fighting for the team. That alone pushes us. We will give it our best every time we play as we normally do for those guys who have never watched us play but always buy batteries to listen to our matches [on the radio].”
On the new signings, he said every addition to a team is important but the importance cannot be emphasized before they are used.
“Of course, they are here to fill in some gaps that are within the team, we welcome them with open arms and we will give them chances like everybody else but it’s up to them now to show us if they are ready to play for The People’s Team.”
TEAM NEWS
Bullets will take on Moyale Barracks on Sunday without Ernest Petro, Chikumbutso Salima and Babatunde Adepoju.
The midfield duo is out due to injuries they sustained during our games against Bangwe All Stars and Civil Service United, respectively, while Babatunde is suspended after accumulating three yellow cards.
Our two new signings, Lameck Gamphani, who joined us from Premier Bet Dedza Dynamos, and Wongani Lungu, from Mzuzu City Hammers, have been training with the rest of the squad since they arrived in Blantyre and are available for selection following their clearance.
KICK-OFF TIME AND HOW TO WATCH THE MATCH
The game is scheduled for 14h30 and you can catch all the action live on Mpira TV and will be streamed on FIFA+. You can also catch all the match updates on our Facebook and X (Twitter) channels.
MATCH OFFICIALS
After officiating our league game against Civil last month, Kassim Shaibu returns as the centre referee when we host Moyale at Kamuzu Stadium this Sunday.
Referee: Kassim Shaibu
Assistant Referee 1: Sibusiso Sibande
Assistant Referee 2: Symon Rajab
Fourth Official: Marko Dzimbasekwa
Match Assessor: Hastings Nthutha
