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| Sports |
| Nomads back on driving seat |
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by
Garry Chirwa, 17 March 2003
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Nomads 3 - Castles 0
After a hardly vintage performance in the first half, ‘Mighty’ MTL Wanderers stepped on the gas pedal in the second half with a swaggering display to thump determined Michiru Castles 3-0 at the giant Chichiri Stadium on Sunday, dislodging their old-age rivals Total Big Bullets from the summit of the top league.
The victory shot the nomads to 53 points from 22 games, a point ahead of the Bullets who have a game’s cushion.
A minute of silence was observed just before kickoff in honour of former nomads winger Mike Maganga who died in a road accident last week.
Castles defended with iron discipline in the first half in which the nomads were twice denied by the wood work. At the heart of the nomads first half frustration was Castles goal tender Edward Mussa who kept out several close attempts.
After holding the nomads to a goalless first half, Castles failed to make their numerical superiority count after their opponents were reduced to 10 men at the dot of half time when wonderboy Gift Makoloni was sent out for an early shower when he netted with the help of a hand.
The Lali Lubani boys introduced striker Aggrey Kanyenda for skipper Gift Zakazaka to improve their attacking machinery, a move that paid off in the 53rd minute.
A sudden 30-yard scorcher from budding star Joseph Kamwendo proved too hot for Mussa who could only punch it as far as dangerously advancing Muzipasi Mwangonde whose powerful drive shivered the crossbar and Kanyenda provided the final flourish from the rebound with a thunderbolt that squirmed past the helpless Mussa.
One could feel the sense of relief amongst the nomads fans by the way they greeted the opener and barely four minutes later, Kamwendo spiced up the occasion with a beautiful goal.
The beauty of it all was the angle, difficult by normal standards, but the youthful Kamwendo defied the acute left position with a marvellous low shot into the back of the net that stunned the small crowd— it was a masterpiece, that is for sure.
Then Mwangonde closed the scoresheet in the 64th minute. The catalyst was experienced midfielder John ‘CJ’ Banda who was unmistakably the man of the match.
‘CJ’ expertly lost two markers and in a flash it was on to Kanyenda who made the simplest of touches into the path of Mwangonde to score his seventh goal of the season.
A visibly relieved Wanderers team manager Walter Nyamilandu conceded that the game was tough.
“The players are still at pains with the loss of their colleague, they are still in the process of recovery that is why we struggled in the first half. But after the pep talk, we were a reorganised side.
“It’s good to be back at the top because we will be putting more pressure on our opponents and by so doing they will drop points at a certain point.”
Illovo also had a fruitful weekend pipping Blue Eagles 1-0 on Saturday before thumping Chilomoni Rangers 6-2 the following day.
Toast of the weekend for the sugarmen was Rodrick Douglas who scored the lone goal on Saturday and claimed a double the following day. The other goals for Illovo on Sunday were scored by Alex Kamwendo, Elliam Chiumia, James Fakinala and Chimwemwe Gondwe while Bennet Malunga and Cuthbert Phiri were on target for Rangers.
Illovo are now seventh with 33 points from 24 games while the cops are eighth also with 33 points from 23 games.
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