Wa Ganyu
It was heart-breaking! After working tirelessly to get a goal, that moment came at 90 minutes through super substitute Blessings Mwalilino who capitalised a mistake at the visitors’ back and his easy shot went into the empty net.
That celebration said it all; Mighty Wanderers have collected maximum points over a team which they failed to beat last year in three meetings, but it was not over yet.
Little did they know of a man Chinsinsi Maonga’s tactics of scoring in the dying minute. Silver won a foul almost five yards to the penalty box at 91 minutes. Maonga stepped up and struck the ball into the right corner of the net, leaving keeper Chancy Mtete with no chance. It was heartbreak, Nomads who were by that time dancing following their goal had to sit down in disbelief.
Their coach Bob Mpinganjira failed to understand how they conceded with just a minute to goal hence blaming the officiation for the poor show.
“Teams try on the pitch, vomiting blood just to get a win, but only to be disappointed by the officiation,” said Mpinganjira as he tried to bring words together.
“I don’t comment about them [referees], but you can see that all our effort [today] yielded nothing. Look at the goal, there was no foul. In general, the officiating was bad because even our opponents were bitter with the officiating,” he said.
To Silver coach Peter Mgangira, Nomads could wait until the match was over saying he knew that his side would find a goal and leave Blantyre with a point.
“It is never over until it is over. Wanderers had a good game, I am happy that we have managed to get a point from Blantyre but our plan was for us to get three points. A draw is a fair result looking at what Wanderers did today,” he said.
The last time the two shared points in the league was in the 2020 season when the first round match ended goalless at Kamuzu Stadium.
Last year Silver collected 6 points over Wanderers as the first round match ended 2-0 to them at Silver Stadium before a 1-0 win at Kamuzu Stadium.
With today’s draw, Wanderers are still second with 13 points from five games with Bullets still ahead with 18 points from six games and Silver are 10th with 8 points from five games.
Lineups:
Mighty Wanderers: Chancy Mtete, Stanley Sanudi, Emmanuel Nyirenda, Peter Cholopi, Felix Zulu (C), Blessings Singini, Francisco Madinga, Gaddie Chirwa, Wisdom Mpinganjira, Promise Kamwendo, Clement Nyondo.
Silver Strikers: George Chikooka, Maxwell Paipi, MacDonald Lameck, Nickson Mwase, Precious Sambani, Chikondi Kamanga (C), Chimwemwe Idana, Festus Duwe, Chinsinsi Maonga, Uchizi Vunga, Stanie Davie.
