Silver strike nomads
Silver Strikers yesterday put up a dominant performance to triumph 2-0 over Mighty Mukuru Wanderers at Silver Stadium in Lilongwe in the TNM Super League.
It was an outstanding performance by Silver before a huge crowd at their backyard. From the first whistle, it was evident that the Bankers, under coach Peter Mponda, are transforming into a formidable force.
Chikondi Kamanga and Zebron Kalima’s goals in the second half extended Silver’s lead to 19 points, six ahead of second-placed FCB Nyasa Bullets.
The Bankers made their intentions of winning the match earlier in the first-half with several menacing attacks, but lacked the killer punch. The 0-0 status at half time did not reflect Silvers chances created in the first 45 minutes.
During the first half, Silver had the most chances and four incursions in Wanderers territory that could have resulted in goals but nothing came out of their efforts.
In the 17th minutes, promising forward Adiel Kaduya could have put Silver ahead, but he shot wide a good cross from Charles Chipala. Chipala also had an effort disallowed in the 30th minute for offside.
Wanderers fans rued Christopher Kumwembe’s good chance came a minute before recess when unmarked in the box with goalkeeper George Chikooka out of line, he shot over from a close range a cross from Wisdom Mpinganjira. It was the closest Wanderers came to scoring.
At recess coach Nsanzurwimo Ramadhan substituted Kumwembe for Clement Nyondo and Isaac Kaliati for Vincent Nyangulu to rejuvenate the midfield.
The changes seemed to have paid dividends as Wanderers came back into the match to pile pressure on Silver.
The visitors nearly took the lead in the 48th minute after Silver had conceded a corner-kick. But Chikooka’s good reflexes denied Stanley Sanudi a goal from the set-piece.
Despite the rains the game continued to be exciting.
But it was Silver who broke the stalemate in the 58th minute through a fine strike from Chikondi Kamanga. He was well-positioned and composed to shoot past unsuspecting Richard Chipuwa on Wanderers’ goal to send the sky-blue part of the stadium into ecstasy.
The goal energised Silver to take control of the game which resulted in the second goal scored by Kalima in the 84th minute.
Mighty Mukuru Wanderers FC assistant coach Meke Mwase conceded that his charges were outplayed.
“It was not a good performance. We were second on the ball. We were outplayed and we have to give it to Silver. We struggled to create chances. It was not our day,” he said in a post-match interview.
On the other hand, Silver coach Peter Mponda was all smiles.
“I am glad with the performance. We had lots of chances in the first half, but we could not score goals. But I was encouraged with the performance and did not lose hope that he we would win. We got the goals in the second half,” he said.
In other matches, Mafco beat Bangwe All Stars 1-0 while Karonga United drew 0-0 with Civil Service United.
