FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Sunday successfully retained the FDH Bank Cup they won last year after beating Mafco by three goals to zero at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
For emerging champions, Bullets carted home a K30 million cheque while Mafco received K8 million for coming second.
Bullets started the game like a house on fire, pressuring the Salima-based soldiers from the first minute.
It, therefore, did not come as a surprise when Lanjesi Nkhoma put the People’s Team ahead in the fifth minute with a simple tap-in.
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A combination of Nkhoma, Patrick Mwaungulu, Stanley Billiat and Ephraim Kondowe proved too much for Mafco as Bullets attacked wave after wave, searching for more goals.
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Frank Willard and Chawanangwa Gumbo bossed the midfield, enabling Bullets to attack with fluidity.
Nkhoma was on the scoresheet again in the 12th minute with another tap-in after Mwaungulu beat two Mafco defenders and slotted the ball to Nkhoma to make it two nil.
It was a match in which Mafco did not come to the party as Bullets looked like scoring with every attacking move.
The match could have ended up with a cricket scoreline had the Bullets frontline been clinical enough in front of goal.
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In the 16th minute, Mafco’s Kingsley Nkhonjera unleashed a volley but Rabson Chienda, in goals for Bullets, was equal to the task.
Mafco’s first real threat in the first half came in the 40th minute when they were given an indirect free kick inside Bullets’ danger zone but the soldiers blazed the resultant set-piece over the bar.
At the stroke of halftime, Mafco’s Mphatso Filimon sent a header over the crossbar after receiving a tantalising cross from Benard Chimaimba.
At halftime, Bullets pulled out Nkhoma and Billiat for Hassan Kajoke and Blessings Mpokera.
Kondowe made it three nil for the Blantyre-based giants when he tapped in at the far post from a Mwaungulu cross.
Thereafter, Bullets kept on pressuring Mafco but their strikers were guilty of missing golden chances.
As the game went on, both teams made substitutions, with Bullets bringing in McFarlane Mgwira, Precious Sambani and Anthony Mfune for Gomezgani Chirwa, Chawanangwa Gumbo and Ephraim Kondowe.
Mafco brought in Peter Katsonga, Gift Soko and Blessings Chandiyang’ana for Benard Chimaimba, Stain Malata and Wakisa Kalinga in an attempt to get a consolation goal, to no avail.
After two minutes of additional time, referee Easter Zimba blew the final whistle, much to the delight of the partisan Bullets supporters.
In a post-match interview, Bullets Coach Kalisto Pasuwa thanked the sponsors and organisers for developing football.
He also praised his charges for putting up a gallant fight to retain the trophy.
“We have been talking about tiredness in the legs. We had to give intensity in the game and we got two goals. Then, the other minutes, we were trying to manage the game. In the second half, we got another goal and it was done,” Pasuwa said.
Mafco Coach Pritchard Mwansa conceded defeat.
“We did not play well, especially in the first half,” Mwansa said.
