FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves and MMF Marines settled for a 1-1 stalemate in the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday.
Richard Malunga netted for the visitors 15 minutes into the game, countered by Prince Chalera’s equaliser for our reserves soon after the half-hour mark.
Match highlights
Enos Chatama’s boys started strongly, controlling possession and threatening in attack.
However, the Marines took the lead against the run of play with a spectacular strike from Malunga, who struck from outside the box to beat our goalkeeper, Austin Chirambo.
Undeterred, the Bullets responded by intensifying their pressure and nearly equalized when Wongani Kaponya hit the post.
Just a minute past the half-hour mark our dominance finally got rewarded as we pulled one back.
Gift Lamowa dribbled his way into the box and beautifully placed the ball to Chalera who broke his seven-game goal drought with a calm finish to make it 1-1 before the interval.
In the second half, Chalera came close to scoring again but was denied by the woodwork.
16 minutes into the second half, Chatama made his first change, bringing in Mischeck Biliati for Lamowa hoping to grab a winner.
Although there was a lot of goal-mouth action for us in the last stages of the tie, there was nothing to separate the two sides at the end. 1-1 it ended.
Chatama’s post-match reaction
“One of the games hard to forget, we had a lot of ball possession, we created so many chances, especially in the first half but we never used them. The second half was tight, we never moved the ball quickly in the midfield and that’s why we had difficulties creating openings to get a second goal. The other team defended so deep and the problem is that our team is lacking creativity in the midfield. We could have finished this team but all in all, it’s not a bad result.”
What it means
Salvaging a point at home means Bullets Reserves now have 15 points from eight matches, placing them second in Group B, two points behind leaders Ekhaya United, who have played one more game.
Next
Following Sunday’s result, our boys return to league action next weekend as they are now left with three games to finish the first round.
