The busy schedule continues as FCB Nyasa Big Bullets have four consecutive TNM Super League away fixtures lined up this month, with two to be played within the next five days.
The reserves will also be away for the mini-Blantyre-derby in the final match of the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League group stages.
Our ladies’ team will host Atu Bullets in the FAM Women’s Football Southern Region League, while the youth team will not be involved in any competitive action following the completion of the FMB Under-19 Cup.
Keep reading to get all the details of what’s coming ahead as we wrap up the first week of November.
First Team
Our attention will turn away from Sunday’s 1-1 stalemate in the Blantyre derby against Mighty Mukuru Wanderers and focus on the two back-to-back TNM Super League matches away from home.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s men will be back on the road with a trip to Red Lions on Wednesday. Bullets travel to Balaka Stadium hunting all the points as we seek to edge closer to a fifth consecutive league championship.
The point collected on Sunday against Wanderers means the defending champions only need two wins from their remaining five games to officially retain the TNM Super League title.
From Balaka, The People’s Team will proceed to the capital to face Blue Eagles in another important league fixture at the Police Headquarters on Sunday.
Depending on Wednesday’s result, the outing to Nankhaka will also be an opportunity for Pasuwa and his charges to finish off the job and focus on the Airtel Top 8 and the Castel Challenge Cup as Bullets are chasing a quadruple this season.
The team will return to Blantyre and rest during the international break before resuming action with another away trip to Dedza Dynamos on 22 November then up North to face Karonga United a week later.
Reserves
Enos Chatama’s boys will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing 1-0 defeat to Zingwangwa United in the Nyasa Capital Finance Cup on Saturday.
Our reserves will play their final group stage match against Mighty Wanderers Reserves, a fixture which was postponed at the weekend.
A win will see Bullets Reserves reaching the knockout stage on a high as they strive to defend the ThumbsUp SRFL title.
Women
Maggie Chombo’s ladies will host Atu Bullets in their next championship assignment. They will go into this fixture straight from their comfortable 4-0 win over Red Lioness in Zomba on Sunday.
Bullets Women are five points behind log leaders Ntopwa, who also won their game to stretch their lead at the top of the table to 24 points.
Youth
Bullets Youth are not in any competition at the moment after they finished third in the just concluded FCB Under-19 Cup.
Expectations
As Pasuwa seeks to seal his fifth league title in Malawi, two wins in the next three matches will see Bullets retaining the championship for a fifth season in a row and a 17th league title.
This will allow Pasuwa’s charges to focus on the Castel Challenge Cup and Airtel Top 8 Cup as the 2023 football season is slowly going to an end.
However, it will not be easy facing the Lions of Zomba, a side that is currently fighting for their survival in the league.
The fixture is a repeat of what happened in 2018 when the Zomba military side needed a win to boost their survival chances, however, they were hammered by Bullets to be relegated to the Premier Division before making a return to the TNM Super League the following season.
With five games to go, Bullets know where the money is and will do whatever it takes to complete the mission in what will be described as one of the toughest seasons because, at this stage last season, the defending champions were already declared winners with more games to spare.
With the FDH Bank Cup already on the shelf, winning the league will sum up another successful season in the domestic scene.
