FCB Nyasa Big Bullets travel to Mpira Stadium for our final first-round TNM Super League match against Bangwe All Stars on Wednesday afternoon.
It’s a must-win game for the defending champions, who are 17 points behind Silver Strikers in the title race.
With four wins, eight draws and two losses, a win is all that Kalisto Pasuwa’s men need to close the gap and keep their hopes alive going into the final half of the season.
Bullets must overcome a resilient side fighting for relegation and Mpira Stadium has never been an easy place for The People’s Team, despite winning all four matches against different teams in the previous seasons.
FORM GUIDE
We will be travelling to Chiwembe following our successful outing in the Blantyre derby on Sunday, beating our rivals Mighty Mukuru Wanderers 2-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the FDH Bank Cup.
The defending champions have endured a very frustrating start to the league title defense with eight draws and just four wins from which they have recorded two losses.
For the first time since the 2017 season, Bullets haven’t reached a 30-point mark after 14 games, an indication of how tough it has been for the 2023 quadruple winners.
Pasuwa described Sunday’s result as a motivation going into the midweek fixture against a side that we defeated 5-0 in the FDH Bank Cup Round of 32 at Kamuzu Stadium early this month.
As for the opposition, they are in the relegation zone with nine points from 14 games. They are coming from a 1-1 draw away to Moyale Barracks last week.
How we have performed at Mpira Stadium
The last time we played at the mini-stadium was in the first round of the 2023 campaign where we won 2-0 against Wednesday’s opposition, courtesy of Lanjesi Nkhoma’s first-half brace.
But before this affair, we had recorded a hard-fought 1-0 win over Red Lions and a 2-0 victory over Mighty Tigers in the 2022 season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
This will be the fourth meeting between Bullets and Bangwe in all competitions. We have faced them twice in the league and once in the FDH Bank Cup. Pasuwa’s side won all three games, scored eight goals, and did not concede.
TEAM NEWS
Pasuwa has no fresh injuries to the squad that played Wanderers on Sunday, while Ernest Petro is back after recovering from an ankle injury.
Clever Mkungula, Alick Lungu, Mike Mkwate, Clyde Senaji, Ronald Chitiyo, Anthony Mfune and Precious Phiri are still out.
WHAT PASUWA SAID AHEAD OF THE MATCH
It’s very difficult to motivate the boys after a derby win. You see, sometimes it’s complacency where after having that derby win, we went to the next round and then they see these other teams as if they are easy when we meet them. But we played Bangwe in our first round of this [FDH Bank] cup and we struggled in the first 45 minutes because they were solid.
I think we quickly need to put our minds in place and have a positive mindset in whatever we do. We need to be together for us to collect points when we play them [in the league on Wednesday.
Yes, it’s good that we are scoring but then I am worried about how we are conceding goals. We score, we need to lock our defence. If you can see some of the goals we have been conceding, are similar and this is something that needs to be fixed. It’s homework for us to rectify this problem.
KICK-OFF TIME AND HOW TO WATCH THE MATCH
The game is scheduled for 14h30 and you can catch all the action live on Mpira TV and will be streamed on FIFA+. You can also catch all the match updates on our Facebook and X (Twitter) channels.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Gift Chicco has been handed a third game involving Bullets this season after he officiated our 1-1 tie against Mighty Waka Waka Tigers in April and the 1-0 defeat to Silver Strikers in June.
Referee: Gift Chicco
Assistant Referee 1: Walesi Chisi
Assistant Referee 2: Henry Bello
Fourth Official: Honest Maulana
Match Assessor: Fanny Minandi
