Kalisto Pasuwa was pleased with how his Nyasa Big Bullets performed in the 2-0 win over Chitipa United in the quarterfinal match of the FDH Bank Cup at Rumphi Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The People’s Team went into the cup game coming from a frustrating 3-3 draw with rivals Mighty Mukuru Wanderers in the TNM Super League last Sunday in a game Pasuwa’s men had a commanding 3-1 lead before surrendering it in the final minutes.
Speaking on Saturday after Babatunde Adepoju and Anthony Mfune’s goals over Chitipa secured a semifinal spot against Wanderers, Pasuwa believes his side did well defensively in a match where secondary balls were the order of the day due to a bumpy and dry pitch in Rumphi.
“A game well played in terms of how we did defensively. Remember, we have been scoring a lot of goals but we have also been conceding goals, but today we kept a clean sheet and this shows an improvement in how the team has defended and how well we did offensively. It was a good response from the boys in this match,” said Pasuwa after the match.
But the Zimbabwean acknowledged that his charges were a bit jittery in the opening minutes of the match as they struggled to adapt to the condition of the pitch and playing against strong winds.
“We were jittery in the first half, but in the second half they settled well and slowly adapted to the dry and bumpy pitch by passing and creating spaces into the offensive zone and we were just very unfortunate not to add more goals, but the good thing is that we won and we are into the semifinal of the cup.”