Wanderers stun Silver

 Mighty Mukuru Wanderers on Sunday continued their fine form with a narrow 1-0 victory over Silver Strikers at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.

Striker Muhammad Sulumba’s seventh minute goal was all the Nomads needed to collect three points and move to fifth position with 37 points on goal difference.

Silver, who also have 37 points and are now on positon six, started well with good passes, commanding the midfield, but their shots went off target.

However, the hosts recovered swiftly and drew first blood in the seventh minute when Sulumba netted from a Stanley Sanudi cross.

The overlapping right back sent a cross into the box which Silver defender Handy Ng’andu missed and Sulumba chested the ball down before sending a thunderous shot into the back of the net, beating goalkeeper Charles Chisale.

Silver assistant coach McDonald Yobe made changes, bringing in Duncan Nyoni for Maxwell Gastin and the substitute made a difference, but his effort was denied by Nomads goalkeeper Richard Chipuwa stopped.

Silver top scorer Chawanangwa Kaonga was tightly marked by in-form Nomads defender Miracle Gabeya.

Silver dominated the second-half in search of an equaliser by high pressing but all attempts failed to hit the back of the net.

Kaonga and substitute Stain Davie, who replaced Uchizi Vunga, had four clear chances to score, but it was Gabeya who cleared their shots.

A clear opportunity for the Bankers came in the 75th minute when Levison Maganizo’s free-kick found unmarked Chisomo Mpachika in the six-yard, but his shot was cleared by Gabeya.

Wanderers made changes, introducing Wisdom Mpinganjira, Aubrey Maloya and Felix Zulu for Vitumbiko Kumwenda, Muhammad Sulumba and Yamikani Chester in an effort to dominatre the midfield.

The Nomads had one serious attempt in the 68th minute in the second half when Gabeya saw his attempt from a corner cleared on the line.

Wanderers, however, clung to the slender lead to revenge their lost 2-1 loss in the first round at Silver Stadium in Lilongwe.

Wanderers coach Alex Ngwira said it was a game of two halves, with the hosts dominating the first while Silver came hard in the second.

He said: “In the first-half we controlled the game. But in the second-half these guys came hard on us and they had numbers in the modified.”

Yobe said they lost due to poor finishing. He said: “Wanderers did no play. They just scored.”.