‘Black Mamba’ spits venom
Esau ‘Black Mamba’ Kanyenda yesterday netted a brace as Be Forward Wanderers recovered from Saturday’s loss against Silver Strikers to beat Blue Eagles 2-0 in TNM Super League at Nankhaka on a hot afternoon.
The brace means the veteran has six Super League goals, three scored over the weekend as he was also on target when Wanderers lost 2-1.
Yesterday, he scored in each half to help his new club keep a grip of the league summit.
‘Black Mamba’ combined well with Joseph Kamwendo, who was arguably the man-of-the-match.
The former Polokwane City striker put Wanderers ahead in the 27th minute.
He killed the game in the 88th minute with a volley after Eagles goalkeeper John Soko had mistakenly gifted him the ball.
It was a bad day for Eagles who finished the game with 10 men after captain Micium Mhone was shown a red card after a second yellow in the 70th minute.
Eagles close attempt in the first-half came from a long range effort from midfielder Phillip Masiye which went wide by a few inches.
On the other hand, Wanderers could have led by two goals at half time had Peter Wadabwa been clinical to tap the ball in an empty net after keeper Soko had left his line.
Maxwell Salambula nearly levelled for Eagles in the 50th minute, but miscued the ball in the box.
All he needed was slot the ball into the net after Wanderers goalkeeper Richard Chipuwa was off line.
To add power in attack, Eagles coach Audlow Makonyola made a double substitution. He introduced John Malidadi Jnr to replace Mphatso Philmon and Gilbert Chirwa for Oswald Maonga, but nothing changed as no goals came and instead, it was the visitors who got the goal.
Makonyola said it was not their day in a post-match briefing.
“We were unfortunate. We tried to come into the game, but things just did not work. It got worse with Mhone red card. He lacked discipline,” he said.
Wanderers team manager Steve Madeira hailed his players for a “positive response”.
He said: “We needed such kind of response and we got back on track.”
In Mzuzu, Moyale Barracks failed to utilise home ground advantage as they went down 1-2 to defending Kamuzu Barracks (KB) at Mzuzu Stadium.
KB had to come from behind to equalise through Manase Chiyesa who cancelled Zondiwe Munthali’s early strike before Zinjani Yona scored the winner.
Moyale’s Khuda Muyaba had his penalty saved by Leman Nthala in added.
KB coach Billy Phambala was relieved by the win while his counterpart Nicholas Mhango said luck was not on their side.
“We played well, we had several scoring opportunities, but we did not utilise them,”he said. n
