Civo, Silver in High-Four finals

Civo United and Silver Strikers on Saturday reached the finals of the Lilongwe High-Four Bonanza after seeing off Epac FC 1-0 and Kamuzu Barracks (KB) 4-3 respectively at Civo Stadium.

The Bankers were tied 1-1 with the Soldiers after regulation time but went on to win the match on post-match penalties.

Silver scored through Chawanangwa Kaonga, Ignitus Makoloni, Lazarous Nyemera and Sam Gunde while Diof Simaone, Julius Mkwinja and Kelvin Haganda were on target for KB.

Silver goalkeeper Blessings Kameza saved Lemani Nthala and Mustapha Salimu’s penalties.

KB opened the score-sheet 15 minutes into the game through Ben Hojani’s penalty which came when defender Michael Mtonyo fouled Manase Chiyesa in the box.

Silver equalised through Ndaona Daisi’s penalty after Kaonga was fouled.

In the lunch-hour kick-off, former Mzuzu United striker Peter Kasonga, who is on trials at Civo, scored in the 80th minute of his debut game to take the Civil Servants to the final.

Kasonga headed home a searching cross from Wyson Nkana, easily beating Epac goalkeeper Tione Tembo.

In all fairness, Tembo should be blamed for failing to deal with the free-header which he escorted into the net.

The goal came as a relief to Civo after their player Wyson Nkata missed a penalty inside the first-half.

Referee Roy Williams awarded Civo a penalty in the 37th minute after striker Lawrence Mwehiwa was fouled inside the 18-yard box.

Civo trusted Nkana to put them in front, but his shot went over the bar to the disbelief of the fans.

The victory is sweet revenge for the home side as it ended Epac’s dominance over the Civil Servants.

Last season, Civo lost both league games to Epac 3-0 and 2-1 respectively.

Civo assistant coach Beggie Mwangombo was on cloud nine.

“We played well the whole game and deserved to win the match. We did not underrate Epac despite that they have lost a number of players to other teams. We told the players to treat them as one of the giants teams,” he said.

The champions of the bonanza will get a trophy and K1 million.