Missed calls in Airtel Top 8 first-legs
Silver Strikers and Nyasa Big Bullets, probably due to connectivity problems, made short calls over the weekend to keep the football conversation going in the Airtel Top 8 quarter-final after winning home ties.
But such slender 1-0 leads for Bullets and Silver suggest that the giants need more call bundles to finish the quarter-final story, lest they be punished.
At a worm-infested Bingu National Stadium pitch in Lilongwe, Newman Mwamsamale struck to keep tongues wagging in Area 47 after a 1-0 win over Civil Sporting Club, but the chief banker, Lovemore Fazili, knows that the lack of response by civil servants does not necessarily mean they have given up. Expect a strong return call from Civil in the second-leg.
The following day, Bullets started the Airtel campaign with a 1-0 home win over Moyale Barracks in the sweltering heat of Kalulu Stadium in Nchalo, Chikwawa District, on Sunday but the tie is far from done and dusted.
The mud in the sugarcane fields of Nchalo hindered the mobility of Moyale Barracks who resorted to long range shots that never really troubled Bullets goalkeeper Rabson Chiyenda.
With Bright Munthali and Chiukepo Msowoya deprived of the sight of the goal and big Moyale goalkeeper McDonald Harawa not yielding to any threat, coach Rodgers Yasini pulled a card off his sleeve to snatch the win through pint-sized Patrick Phiri.
But in the second-leg, a hostile partisan crowd and bumpy pitch await Bullets at Mzuzu Stadium.
“We played better than Bullets but all the best to them. They have won. Officiation was not at its best but we live to fight another day in Mzuzu,” Moyale Coach, Charles Kamanga, told the press in a post-match interview.
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