FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves have secured their place in the last eight of the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League following a 3-0 victory over Mangochi All Stars on Thursday afternoon at Kamuzu Stadium.
A brace from Wongani Kaponya won us the first half before Maxwell Sakanamba scored his first goal since graduating from our Under 19s side to close the scoring in the final period.
What happened
It took Bullets only a minute to establish the lead when Kaponya finished a well-worked team move in the box with an excellent left-footed finish after being picked by a marvellous through-ball from the in-form Macray Chiwaya.
From there, the visitors looked like they were braced for a messy, scorching afternoon. We pushed up and created a series of chances that went misused, just like in the previous games.
Escaping from many let-offs, the visitors grew into the game, shrugging off nervousness by claiming periods of possession of their own.
Oscar Petro, who had recently returned from a knee injury, waved for him to be subbed, and Madalitso Safuli replaced him.
Eventually, we reclaimed our dominance, and in the 40th, we almost doubled the lead. Prince Chalera’s decent attempt was denied by the upright and there was no one to follow that up.
We hit the post again in quick succession, and this time, substitute Safuli’s curve got the denial.
Nonetheless, our persistence paid off before the half-time whistle as Kaponya got his brace on the day with a beautiful volley from outside the box with his weaker foot.
Leading 2-0 at the restart, the narrative of the match did not change; we created more chances only to waste them.
Looking to go further ahead, Hadji Steven and Misheck Biliati were separately introduced to replace Kaponya and Gift Lamowa.
Six minutes past the hour mark, substitute Biliati was then presented with a glorious chance but could not beat Rasheed Hassan, the visiting keeper, in a one-versus-one scenario.
The full effect of our subs finally came about when they combined well to get us our third goal. Biliati out-paced his marker down the right before cutting it inside for Sakanamba to slot it home with a weaker foot, and it was 3-0 in the 82nd minute.
To limit the damage, the visitors did well to drop low in compact blocks, and they kept things just like that until the final whistle, handing us our eleventh win of the season with a 3-0 scoreline.
What it means
Thursday’s win takes Enos Chatama’s boys to 40 points and, most importantly, to the top of Group B after 20 matches. A place in the last-eight stage is as well secured for the young Bullets.
Chatama post Mangochi All Stars
“One of those games we created so many chances. We started brightly; we scored in the earliest minute of the game. We controlled the proceedings and created more chances, but we never converted [most of] them into goals. It was 3-0 in the second half. All in all, a win is a win, three points in the bag, it’s good for the team, and we are heading in the right direction.”
Looking forward
Our lads will then travel to Machinga to face Ntaja Rangers in their penultimate match in Group B of the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League.
