FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves secured their first win in the final stage of the 2024 ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League following a convincing 2-0 victory over Mwanza Stars at the Balaka Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Madalitso Safuli was terrific with dead balls on the day as he bagged a first-half brace to win the tie for us.
What happened
It was a vibrant start from our boys, whose hunger for the opener was clear in the early stages of their fifth match of the last eight campaign.
The hosts looked short of answers to the early pressure Enos Chatama’s boys exerted on them that they were forced to commit numerous fouls to frustrate our attacks.
Nonetheless, after half an hour of relentless pushing, our youngsters finally got the breakthrough.
Put through by a fine pass from Oscar Petro, Prince Chalera raced into the box with only the keeper to beat but the recovering defender brought him down to force the referee to award us a penalty kick. From eleven yards, Safuli was successful with a cool low effort to make it 0-1.
With the lead, we looked very much in control and continued to ask the home side lots of questions.
Having his first start in as many games, Safuli was on fire and, in the last minute of the opening half, proved to be deadly with the dead balls to double the lead.
From 25 yards, the midfielder smashed a thunderous free-kick to beat the home side’s goalkeeper, Madalitso Kanthiti. The opening half ended 2- 0.
Starting the second half, we did not boil off but instead looked more eager to extend the lead.
On the hat trick, Safuli was presented with a glorious chance but could not seize the opportunity as he was denied by a last-ditch block from the last man of the Mwanza Stars’ backline.
The hosts searched deep for their way back into the tie but never looked sharp enough to curve open our well-sit defence.
Failing to control their temper, the hosts went ten men down with ten minutes to go as their goalkeeper Kathiti was shown a second yellow card for dissent.
With a one-man advantage, numerous chances were presented to us, but we failed to win the final half, and the score ended 0-2 at full-time.
What it means
Having registered their first win in this last phase of the competition, Bullets are now on six points after five matches.
That tally has seen our reserves move four steps up as they now sit third in the standings, four points behind the league leaders.
Chatama post Mwanza Stars
“The boys worked hard from the start. We played a very good game; we created so many chances and scored twice. We missed a lot of chances, but we believe the first win [in the last eight] is important to bring back the morale of the team and the confidence of the boys.”
Looking forward
The famous Blantyre mini-derby is next for our boys, who will host Mighty Wanderers Reserves at the Kamuzu Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
