Silver beat Ntopwa, Nomads hold Eagles
A flash of supreme class saw lanky Nigerian forward Babatunde Adepoju rescue Be Forward Wanderers from the jaws of defeat at the hands of Blue Eagles yesterday.
The Malawi Police Service were just seconds away from bagging full points when goalkeeper John Soko’s calamitous error of judgement aided Adepoju to struck the equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game in a nervy TNM Super League showdown at Nankhaka Stadium in Lilongwe.
Soko saw the sky fall on him as his delaying tactics backfired terribly, leading to the Nomads’ equaliser and relief was the prevalent emotion in the Nomads camp.
After taking an early lead through Peter Wadabwa’s glancing header from a Stanley Sanudi free-kick in the eighth minute, the Nomads lost their rhythm in the second half and the rejuvenated cops struck twice within the first 10 minutes through their blossoming talisman Gaddie Chirwa’s to take a 2-1 lead.
The first in the 53rd minute was a beauty. Chirwa made an electric surge on the right flank before releasing a thunderbolt on the edge of the penalty box which gave Nomads’ goaltender Richard Chipuwa no chance.
He wasn’t done yet as he completed a brace barely two minutes later.
The Nomads remain ninth in the 16-team top-flight league with 17 points from 12 games while Eagles are stuck a place above the relegation zone (13th) with 12 points from 13 matches.
Eagles coach Gerald Phiri could not hide his disappointment after the match.
He said: “This is a match we should have won. To us, it is a loss.
“We should not have conceded such a silly goal. Our goalkeeper could have also done better than applying needless delaying tactics which forced the referee to add a bit of time.”
Nomads gaffer Bob Mpinganjira hailed his charges for their never say-die-spirit.
“We were the better side in the first half, but we somehow lost the plot in the second half. Nevertheless, I salute my players for not giving up,” he said.
At Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, steamrolling Silver Strikers opened a four-point gap at the pinnacle of the table following a 3-0 thumping of struggling Ntopwa FC.
The Central Bankers, who edged Red Lions 1-0 on Saturday, now have 28 points from 12 matches.
Silver drew first blood through Levison Maganizo before Stain Davie and Maxwell ‘Phodo’ Gasten got on the scoresheet in the second half.
Gasten, who is the leading scorer, has now taken his tally to nine goals.
In other matches, table anchors Mzuzu Warriors lost 1-2 to Mafco FC. They have 11 points from eight matches.
Chitipa United beat Mighty Tigers 2-1 to move two places up to 12th with 13 points from 13 matches.
