Kalisto Pasuwa was delighted with the level of control his second-half substitutes made as FCB Nyasa Big Bullets defeated Blue Eagles 3-0 in the TNM Super League at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The People’s Team bounced back from two back-to-back goalless draws to score three past the Area 30 cops and move back to the top of the table.
Yamikani Fodya got Bullets in the lead early in the opening period before Hassan Kajoke and Ephraim Kondowe completed the scoring in the second half to secure all the points for the defending champions, who had a first half to forget as the visitors dominated possession from the onset.
Pasuwa faced the media and took some questions after the final whistle.
On how his Bullets performed in the opening half…
We struggled to keep possession, misplaced passes and we were second on the ball. But we were defensively good after we got the ball, and we managed to close them down despite [them] dominating possession, especially in the first half and the boys managed to keep the 1-0 lead.
We had to make changes in the second half where we had to change the way we were playing. The substitutes settled down and eased the pressure that came from the opponents until we got the other two goals from the counterattacks.
On why Bullets chose to continue fulfilling fixtures despite contributing four players to the national team just like Silver Strikers and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, who have been exempted from having games…
“It’s not a motivation. We are one of the biggest teams in Malawi. Remember, we can be invited anywhere to launch a cup, play on Independence Day and Kamuzu Day and if we play cup games, we reach finals in most cases and on top of that, we have CAF Champions League games coming.
Those are extra games to what we plan as a coach and we can’t risk ourselves. We need to keep on playing our games as they come to avoid fixture congestion.
On how his reserve players fared in the absence of the regulars…
They played, but some of them lacked confidence. You saw how we were losing possession in the first half, but as the game progressed, they settled down and performed better. You saw how Chawanangwa Gumbo rose to the occasion, and that’s what we need, and with time, we will be able to get the better of these players.
On Fodya’s Man of the Match performance…
He has been one of the senior guys. Very composed guy and we were talking of starting the ball from the back and you saw how composed he was, and it made life easier even for Blessings Mpokera whom he was playing with [in central defence]. I am happy for him and I hope he will keep cool like what he was doing.
