After seasons of playing second fiddle to Civo United in the capital city derby, Silver Strikers got it right on Sunday to bag three points.
Played in a fully packed stadium, the derby lived up to its reputation with action swinging from one side to the other.
Peter Pindani, who made a return to the first team, could have put Silver ahead in the third minute when he pounced on a loose ball in the box after Pilirani Makupe’s hesitation.
He shot wide in one-to-one situation against Civo’s keeper Onani Nsengwa, much to the amazement of the spectators.
Recovering from the scare, Civo started making in-roads into the home side half with Jabulani Linje, Martin Masoatheka, Nelson Kambunje and Patrick Gunde orchestrating offence.
But Silver’s Chipiliro Jose, Lucky Malata and Mustapha Salim diffused the attack before reaching their goalie Alex Makina.
Civo’s closest opportunity in the first-half came in the 18th minute when Kambunje was left unmarked in the box, but his resultant shot hit the post with Makina completely helpless.
The visitors almost had a lead soon after, but a bad miss from Lusekelo Mwathengere cost them the match. Overlapping defender Wyson Nkhana, formerly of Bullets, operating from the deep, played one-touch with Lazarous Chirwa to set up Mwathengere who missed miserably.
The priceless goal for the home team came 22 minutes into the second-half courtesy of former Bangwe Madrid player Ndaona Daisi who headed in the roof of the net after some poor defending from Civo defenders.
“It is a great victory and this goes to the fans who have suffered a lot under Civo United domination. We hope we are now ready to dictate things in the Central Region. Despite winning the league, playing second fiddle to Civo has been a sore,†said Silver coach Thom Mkorongo.
His counterpart Alex Masanjala conceded defeat, saying: it was anybody’s game. “They scored a lucky goal and got away with it. I am still proud of my boys,†said Masanjala.
With the win, Silver now have opened a four-point lead at the top. They now have 21 points, Red Lions are second on 18 points, despite Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Big Bullets in Zomba. Civo are third, also on 18 points.
In other matches, Blue Eagles rose from Saturday’s loss to Bvumbwe to beat Blantyre United 3-1. In the North, Kabwafu FC lost 2-0 to visiting Azam Tigers.
