Eagles, Moyale, Civo regroup for Standard Bank return matches

Blue Eagles, Civo United and Moyale Barracks are not leaving any stone unturned in their quest to progress to the semi-finals of the Standard Bank Knockout Cup. They have regrouped just a day after playing their first matches.

Eagles are hoping to reverse the 3-1 loss they suffered last Saturday at the hands of Silver; and make it into the last four in the return leg on Saturday.

“We have intensified preparations and we are starting camp today. We want the players to train in an isolated atmosphere so that they can focus on the game without distractions. We have been joined by five new players who are back from police training. Hopefully, they will offer a solution to beat Silver on Saturday,” said the club’s general secretary Ackis Muwanga.

He attributed the loss on Saturday to a make-shift midfield.

“We missed the services of our key midfield players in Patrick Masanjala and Meceium Mhone who were serving cards. We had to use untested players and that was the reason we lost many balls in midfield. We were forced to use injured Mgangira (Peter) in the second-half,” said Muwanga.

Eagles need to score two goals to proceed in the tournament.

Moyale, who drew 1-1 against Civo also need to score. They regrouped on day in Mzuzu.

“They (Civo) have a crucial away goal and will go into the match on Saturday with a slight advantage. We have embarked on intensive training to cause an upset in Lilongwe. Our strategy is simply score early goals and unsettle them,” said the club’s general secretary Major James Chilambe.

Moyale without four first choice players defied all odds at Chitowe to hold Civo to a one-all draw.

Civo assistant coach Dave Chirwa admitted that Moyale played well on Saturday.

“It was an open game and Moyale were equally good, but we are happy that we scored an away goal. We just need to defend well on Saturday so that we should not concede a goal. It is obvious we will score,” said Chirwa.

Epac FC, however, are taking it easy despite that they go into the return match with one-goal deficit.

“We will start training on Tuesday as we have nothing to fear about Bullets. We could have easily won in Balaka had we used our chances. I have confidence in my boys that we will beat them on Saturday. They are not as good as they are portrayed in the media,” said coach Abbas Makawa.