Silver Strikers will travel to Mzuzu for the second leg of the Airtel Top 8 with an advantage following a 1-0 victory over Moyale Barracks on Monday at Silver Stadium in Lilongwe.
Festus Duwe, who was named man-of-the-match, scored the lone goal of the match in the 10th minute when he took advantage of a goal scramble following a throw-in from Macdonald Lameck.
It was an entertaining game as both teams played good passing game creating scoring opportunities.
Silver had an upper hand in the first half and had the forwards been clinical, they coukld have scored more.
Moyale’s Raphael Phiri nearly levelled seconds later, but he shot over the bar in a man-to-man with Silver goalkeeper George Chikooka.
For the Bankers, Uchizi Vunga could have doubled the lead after 18 minutes but his powerful shot narrowly missed the upright.
Moyale came into the second half with renewed determination and dominated play restricting Silver to counter-attacks, but could not breach the entrenched Silver defence.
At the end of it all, the visitors’ dominance did not pay off as the home team held on to the victory.
Moyale Barracks coach Prichard Mwansa admitted that his side fell short in attack.
“We were not goodin attacking game and that cost us. We somehow struggled in the first half, but we were much better in the second stanza. Anyway, the good thing is that we will play the second leg at home and we will have an advantage,” he said.
His Silver counterpart Peter ‘Shoes’ Mgangira bemoaned missed chances.
“The result is not a true reflection of the game. We created a lot of chances, but we could not score. But the result isn’t bad. We still have a slight advantage,” he said.
