Twice, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves gave away the lead to lose 3-2 to Ntaja United in the Nyasa Capital Finance Cup semi-final tie at the Mpira Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Chrispin Mapemba and Macray Chiwaya gave the young Bullets a 2-1 lead at halftime before Ntaja United scored twice in the second half to snatch a win in a match we were largely dominant.
What happened
Having grabbed the opponents by the neck for most of the opening stages, we then deservedly established a lead in the tie.
After a lovely exchange of passes between Gift Jossam and Limbani Kutambe, our number 7, on the turn, finished off the wonderful team goal with a sweet low strike to make it 1-0 in the 16th minute.
Spurred by that goal, we continued to enjoy the dominance but against the
run of play Ntaja United levelled things up seven minutes later through Blessings Chikopa who fired a cracking volley from outside the box.
A reply from our youngsters for that slip proved to be a positive one as we kept Chisomo Kamlanje’s boys confined in their half and with our elegance on the ball
we got ourselves back in the lead from a different scorer in the 37th minute.
Mapemba, wearing the armband in the absence of the injured Andrew Lameck, burst into the area with terrific pace and shot at goal to force a save from Innocent Manyozo, but Chiwaya was at the right place and showed super composure to score our second, and 2-1 it was at the break.
With the same tempo, we returned from the interval and as we increasingly looked likely to score our third, Ntaja somehow found their way back into the game with another equaliser 22 minutes into the second half through Nelson Meleka from open play on the counter.
Despite being all square, we still displayed some good movement of the ball but our possession was never enough to get back in front.
In the 67th minute, we were dealt with another blow as we allowed the visitors to get in front for the first time in the tie through substitute Idrissa Shaffie who tapped in a cross from the left byline.
For the remaining 23 minutes, our youngsters tried left and right to get back into the tie but the clock ran down quickly for us to let Ntaja United record their first-ever away victory over Bullets Reserves, 3-2 it finished.
What it means
Saturday’s result means that our youngsters are now only left with the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League to chase.
It is the first time this season for Chatama’s Bullets Reserves to concede more than two goals in a single match.
What the coach said
“It was a good game. We played better than Ntaja, we created so many chances, we controlled the game but all in all, we lost. We were one-nil up, they equalised. We were 2-1 up, they equalised. We could have won easily but I do not know what happened to the boys, we created so many chances, we had more of the ball and I can say the better team lost today.”
Next
The season continues for our youngsters and they will now focus on their Southern Region Football League quarter-final match against Zingwangwa United next weekend.
First XI
Joel Ngwira, Happy Mphepo, Gift Jossam, Mussah Bwanali, Raphick Bahati, Oscar Petro, Limbani Kutambe, Lyton Chinong’one, Macray Chiwaya, Chrispin Mapemba, Wongani Kaponya
Used Subs
Wilson Jacob, Francis Malikebu, Gift Lamowa
