Red-hot FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves smashed The Boyz 5-0 in the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League on Monday afternoon at the Kamuzu Stadium.
Macray Chiwaya scored a cracking goal to win the first half. Prince Chalera registered his first hat-trick for Bullets in the second half before Madalitso Safuli sealed the win in stoppage time.
What happened
Our youngsters got off to a fire start. They looked eager to take an early lead, creating three decent chances within the opening ten minutes.
Limbani Kutambe’s effort was deflected away from goal after Chalera perfectly set him up on the edge of the box.
Sixty seconds later Kutambe again came close to scoring after the visiting goalkeeper Paul Stambuli misplaced a build-up pass to him, but the wingback missed the target by a whisker with a dink effort.
It was not tiring to pin the visitors in their half, but we were presented with another opportunity, and Chalera’s weak attempt kept the scoreline goalless.
The best chance of the half fell to Gift Lamowa, who disappointingly fired straight to the keeper when he was found unmarked by Chalera, who brilliantly dribbled past four defenders before finding his attacking partner.
After spending much time absorbing pressure, the visitors pushed up the pitch and registered a shot on target, testing the idle Austin Chirambo with a decent header.
On the other hand, we became increasingly frustrated as the half-hour faded away, with Enos Chatama’s boys still struggling to find a breakthrough.
When it looked like we were braced for a fruitless first half, we got our opener in extra time thanks to Chiwaya’s superb goal, which went off the crossbar into the net. This helped us head for the interval with a 1-0 lead.
Looking to extend the lead, Chatama replaced Lamowa with Hadji Steven at the restart. That change instantly stirred things up as we doubled the lead six minutes into the second half.
Put through by a Chiwaya fine pass, Chalera ran with the ball into the box before beating Stambuli at the near post to make it 2-0 to the good.
Fourteen minutes later, Chalera was on target again, with a header to make it 3-0. With that lead, it looked like it was now a matter of how many goals the visitors would concede. Our youngsters continued to create more chances. The Boyz were lucky most of them were put to waste.
Just past the hour mark, Chalera went on to record his first hat-trick for Bullets with yet another calm finish after being found by a magnificent pass from substitute Maxwell Sakanamba, who a few moments ago was into the fray together with the returning Oscar Petro and Wongani Kaponya for Chiwaya, captain Andrew Lameck, and Misheck Billiat.
Putting ice on the cake, substitute Madalitso Safuli scored in stoppage time after being set up by fellow sub Kaponya to make it 5-0 on the day, our biggest win this season.
Chatama’s post-match reaction
“We struggled in the first half. We moved the ball very well; we got into good positions but failed to utilize our goal-scoring opportunities. We scored at the stroke of halftime. In the second half, we came better. We pressurized them, created so many chances, we scored five. Nonetheless, I was not impressed with how we were attacking and getting into those vital positions.”
What it means
Having collected the maximum points on Monday, Bullets Reserves have moved to 37 points after 19 games.
We remain in third position, level on points with the second-placed Mighty Mukuru Wanderers Reserves, who have a superior goal difference but have played a single game more.
Looking forward
Following the big win at the start of the week, our youngsters have 72 hours before they return to another league encounter on Thursday afternoon when they welcome the sixth-placed Mangochi All Stars.
