Relief was the prevalent emotion in Mighty Wanderers camp at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre yesterday after surviving a late Mighty Tigers scare to bag full points and go top of the TNM Super League table.
The Nomads appeared to be in the comfort zone as they led 3-0 at half-time, but the Kau-Kau Boys displayed strong character to score two goals in the second half to ensure a nervy finish.
With an ounce of luck, Tigers could have gotten something from the battle of ‘Mightys’.
Following the win, the Lali Lubani Road outfit sits at the summit of the flagship league with six points from two matches.
The Nomads were in front eight minutes into the match through a goal of utter beauty from Francisco Madinga, who calmly beat Tigers goal tender Lucky Tizola after being set up by Wisdom Mpinganjira.
Eight minutes later, Wanderers, who finished as runners-up last season, doubled their lead through Mpinganjira. He beat Wisdom Maulabo Jere before firing the ball home.
Mpinganjira then claimed a brace and the Nomads’ third in the 28th minute as his proud father and coach Bob, proudly watched from the sidelines.
The winger, who is enjoying a rich vein of form, rifled the ball home after a misclearance from a corner kick.
The half-time pep talk delivered by Tigers coach Leo Mpulula to his charges, remains in the classified category, but they came into the second half with all their gunz blazing.
Tigers pulled one back in the 70th minute through Harrison Kapata from a rebound after his well taken corner-kick was punched away by Wanderers’ ‘keeper Richard Chipuwa.
The goal fired up the hosts who, from then on, forced the Nomads into rearguard action.
Grayson Msowoya claimed the second for Tigers in the 82nd minute, but as they pushed for an equaliser, the Nomads stood firm.
Wanderers coach Bob admitted that they had a slow start to the second half which allowed Tigers to step up the tempo.
“We played a good game in the first half, but then the intensity dropped in the second half.
It’s part of the game. We have noted some areas that we need to work on. Otherwise we are happy to have won,” he said.
His Tigers counterpart Mpulula said they conceded easy goals.
“But we came back stronger in the second half and we scored those two goals and if we had a bit of time, it would have been a different story,” he said.
In other matches, Moyale Barracks edged fellow Malawi Defence Force (MDF) side Kamuzu Barracks 2-0 through Maneno Nyoni and Clever Kalambo’s strikes. to go second on the log table.
They are tied on six points with the Nomads, but are separated by goal aggregate.
Karonga United also picked their second straight win with a 1-0 victory over MDF side Mafco FC. They are third due to an inferior goal difference. Mzuzu City Hammers chalked their first win after edging PremierBet Dedza Dynamos by the same margin.
