The clock wasn’t lying and there were five minutes left for FCB Nyasa Bullets to wrap up the first round at the summit of the TNM Super League, but somehow, they couldn’t hold on against a resilient Karonga United side.
The People’s Team’s led for the better part of this contest that drove the fans through a bewildering gut of emotions, but in the end, were forced to a frustrating three-all draw by Karonga at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre yesterday.
And relief was the emotion in their rivals Mighty Wanderers’ camp who also played out a goalless draw against Civil Service United to finish the first round at the pinnacle and unbeaten.
So painful was the result in the red side of town that some fans couldn’t take it and vented their frustration by stoning the team bus, breaking some windows in the process.
Wanderers top the table with 35 points, a point above their second-placed rivals as the flagship league goes into recess.
At Kamuzu Stadium, Bullets started at full-throttle and surged ahead six minutes into the match when Peter Banda delivered a well-curled free-kick and blossoming centre-back Blessings Mpokera provided the final touch with ease.
But Ingwina ya Karonga levelled matters five minutes later through Benjamin Mapunda when the Bullets defence was caught napping.
The 17-time champions were back in front in the 16th minute and again Banda was the architect.
He exhanged neat passes with Mike Mkwate and Paul Master which led to the former providing the final flourish.
The hosts led 2-1 at interval and then when lanky Nigerian forward made it 3-1 from a penalty awarded after one of the Karonga defenders had handled in the box in the 71st minute, it appeared Bullets were home and dry.
But not with the Crocodiles. They reduced the arrears six minutes later through Allen Chihana whose shot was deflected into the net past helpless goal tender Innocent Nyasulu.
And just when it appeared Bullets would hold on to their lead, on pounced Alfred Chizinga from a free-kick to break Bullets followers’ hearts.
It was game over.
Bullets coch Peter ‘Mjojo’ Mponda described both the result and performance as “very frustrating”.
“We had the game in our pocket, but we switched off at a very crucial moment.”
On the other hand, his Karonga counterpart Oscar Kaunda hailed his charges for their fighting spirit.
“It was a tough game and we knew it would not be easy, but the boys fought all the way. The target was to win or, at lesat, get a point and it worked,” he said.
At Civo Stadium in Lilongwe, it was a game full of chances and any team could have carried the day, but their forwards ware wasteful.
Civil coach Abbas Makawa blamed his forward for failing to make good use of the chances they created.
“We could have won, but my strikers were not clinical enough today. We lacked seriousness in front of goal. But I can’t blame them, it was just a bad day,” he said.
His counterpart Bob Mpinganjira also shared similar concerns after the game.
“My boys did well. We had chances, but failed to score. It has been a worrying trend in the past few games. We will have to work on it in training, otherwise we need to be scoring goals when faced with such opportunities,” he said.
In another match, Silver Strikers beat Mzuzu City Hammers 2-0 at Rumphi Stadium to move a point within second-placed Bullets.
Emmanuel Allan and Zebron Kalima were on target for the Bankers.
