Silver 2 [3-4] 2 Panthers
Rachael Kaphaizi
Every dog has its day, so they say. Just two days after kicking out Mighty Mukuru Wanderers in the Airtel Top 8 semifinals, Silver Strikers were knocked out of Castel Cup round of 32, this time with a Chipiku League side Panthers FC.
It was a painful exit. When everyone was talking of them and specifically their head coach Peter Mponda who has managed to beat two Blantyre giants; FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and Wanderers in the league.
It could have made more sense if Bankers lost an away battle, but the disaster happened at their backyard, Bwandiro with all their children and wives watching.
Panthers took a two goal lead just at the beginning of the second half after the first half ended goalless but Silver Strikers fought back to tie the game at 2-2.
Geoffrey Sumani scored the first goal for Panthers in the 47th minute with Junior Malidadi scoring the second goal; it was a beauty straight from the corner kick in the 50th minute.
Silver leveled through Duncan Nyoni’s brace to force the game to be decided in post-match penalties.
Bankers failed to convert their two penalties which Uchizi Vunga and Patrick Macheso took charge while Panthers missed one through Noel Sibale. The visitors progressed 4-3 it ended.
In a repeat of history, the same Panthers defeated MAFCO in the previous round, also in a penalty shootout.
Mponda was disappointed with the outcome saying his boys underrate the visitors.
“I’m very disappointed with the performance and result, if we underrate teams this is what usually happens, same thing like what happened in the FDH Cup it’s unfortunate that we are out, but we have to accept it and move on,” he said.
Panther’s coach Kachika Jere expressed his satisfaction with the result.
“I am very happy, you can see where we are coming from, after defeating MAFCO and then today defeating Silver, I am very happy. At first we had some fears, remember our opponents are the league leaders so our boys were afraid,” he stated.
“We will work very hard, so that maybe we can qualify into the finals,” he added.
Panthers are now into the round of 16 of Castel cup.
Penalties:
Silver Strikers
Uchizi Vunga missed
Patrick Macheso missed
Innocent Shema scores
Nickson Mwase scores
Mark Fodya scores
Panthers
Noel Sibale missed
Aggie Msowoya scored
Vincent Mask scored
Uchizi Ngulube scored
Geoffrey Suman scored
