Moyale, Lions out of Carlsberg Cup

Support Battalion pulled off the biggest upset in the K30 million Carlsberg Cup at the weekend when they booted out ‘brothers in arms’ Moyale Barracks with a 3-2 win at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday.

Another military outfit Red Lions also got the boot from the showpiece after going down 0-1 to Epac FC at the Zomba Community Centre Ground while Kamuzu Barracks (KB) set of their defence campaign following a 3-2 victory over fellow soldiers Airborne Rangers in a tight-throat affair in Dedza.

Moyale, Lions and Airborne’s loss has increased the number of Super League teams that have been kicked out of the tournament to six. The others are Civo United, Blantyre United and Karonga United.

Support Battalion, who play in the second-tier Central Region Football League (CRFL) have now qualified for the quarter-finals will meet winners between Blue Eagles and Zomba United who were meeting yesterday at Nankhaka in the capital as we went to press.

Moyale’s coach Nicholas Mhango, whose side lost to KB in the finals in last year’s edition, sounded dejected in an interview with MBC Radio 2.

“We didn’t play well, we were not good at the back, but we have learnt something from the match,” said Mhango who sounded as if he was at pains to come to terms with the reality.

In Dedza, KB showed strong will not to let their defence campaign slip up as they led 2-0 in the first 20 minutes through strikes from Manase Chiyesa (12 minutues) and Kelvin Hanganda (19 minutes) to take a comfortable 2-0 lead at the interval.

But Ben Mdechi pulled one back for Airborne four minutes into the second half. However, Hanganda restored KB’s two-goal lead in the 58th minute.

Dingiswayo Banda revived Airborne’s hopes when he struck in the 72nd minute, but much as they tried to get an equaliser, it sadly could not come and it was the cup holders who marched on.

In Zomba, Jaffalie Chande’s first-half strike was enough to enable Epac progress to the quarter-finals in which they will face KB.