FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves suffered a 2-0 defeat away at FOMO FC in the semi-final first leg of the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League in Mulanje on Sunday afternoon.
Two second-half goals from Happy Phiri and James Msowoya were enough for the hosts to get a result at home.
What happened
The semi-final first-leg tie rolled out on a drizzling Sunday afternoon promising a fierce showdown.
With the pitch wet and muddy, our youngsters saw little of the ball while the hosts showed their familiarity with their home ground to manage some spells of possession as the match grew.
A couple of chances were there though all of them for the home side, which however lacked the teeth to inflict real harm on us until the halftime break came.
Having managed to keep the hungry home side for the entire first half, the defending champions came after the restart looking to attack more. But, again FOMO looked impenetrable in all channels while intensifying their pursuit of a goal.
24 minutes into the second half, our shield was finally broken as the hosts, through Phiri, got the opener with a simple tap-in after a breakthrough down the right-hand side.
Just as our lads looked to bite back through counterattacks, they suffered another set-back eight minutes later as Fomo doubled their lead from a set-piece struck by Msowoya inside the arc of the 18-yard area.
Finding themselves facing a mountain to climb to get back into the tie, young Maule desperately pushed forward but there was no way back. 2-0 it finished.
What it means
The defending champions now face a huge task to escape their predicament going into the second leg on Wednesday at Kamuzu Stadium where they will be looking to overturn the deficit against the Mapopa Msukwa side.
What Chatama said after the loss
“It was one of those games where we did not play our usual game. The turf did not allow us to play our passing game as it was slippery. We had a good game plan, we contained them in the first half. Midway in the second half, they scored a goal and they scored the other soon after. All in all, it is never over until it is over. We have seen major upsets in football. Anything can happen, they can win and dance today and they can cry on Wednesday.”
Next
Focus will now switch to nowhere than the return leg for our youngsters who now have two days to prepare for a big comeback mission back in Blantyre.
