Kalisto Pasuwa believes complacency was the reason FCB Nyasa Big Bullets failed to collect all three points over Premier Bet Dedza Dynamos in the TNM Super League at Kamuzu Stadium on Thursday.
The defending champions, third in the table, put their title hopes in jeopardy as they registered an 11th draw of the campaign. With six games left to wrap up the league term, Bullets are 13 points adrift of league leaders Silver Strikers.
Pasuwa’s men had to come from behind to force a 1-1 draw through Lameck Gamphani’s equaliser in the last minute of stoppage time as the midfielder’s first goal for The People’s Team came against his former club.
Dedza opened the scoring in the 65th minute through Ibrahim Sadik before Gamphani levelled the scoreline in the 96th minute to salvage a point for the Malawi champions.
“Complacency crippled our team. Remember, we are coming from a [Blantyre] derby victory, and our minds were still thinking about that victory. But in football, there is nothing like this. We won the derby, and that’s all. It was finished, and now it was time for us to switch our focus to this game. However, we were still celebrating that win.
“You could see the body language of some of the players when we were playing, and unfortunately, we missed several of our chances, and the opposition got one, and they punished us,” the Zimbabwean reacted in his post-match interview.
“They were all over us in the second half, and we pushed to get an equaliser, which we eventually scored in the final minute. But it all goes down to how we played. We were very complacent, and in the end, we dropped two points,” he told journalists.
In his analysis of the match, Pasuwa explained: “Creating several chances but failing to score was also contributed by our failure to pass the ball to the right person at the right time, and we were hurrying every time we had the ball where someone was trying to shoot when passing the ball to a teammate was the best option.”
While observing that the team lacked the intensity that was needed to win the game, the Bullets head coach drew some positives from the match as he was impressed with how the second-half substitutes fared to force the game into a stalemate.
“Yes, they did well, but we wanted more intensity in attacking the opponents, but they did well, and Gamphani scored the goal. It was okay.”
From 24 games, Bullets now have 41 points after recording ten wins, 11 draws, and three losses. Silver Strikers lead the standings with 54 points, while Wanderers are second with 47 points. All three teams have played the same number of games.
The People’s Team will travel to Lilongwe this weekend to face Kamuzu Barracks in the semifinals of the Airtel Top 8 at the Bingu National on Sunday.
Pasuwa’s men will then return to Blantyre for another midweek TNM Super League fixture against Mighty Tigers at Kamuzu Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
