Bullets battle back as spoils are shared in 75th league Blantyre Derby

FCB Nyasa Big Bullets came from behind to share the spoils with Mighty Mukuru Wanderers in the TNM Super League 2024 season first Blantyre derby on Saturday afternoon at Kamuzu stadium.

The game ended in a 1-all draw as Isaac Kaliyati broke the dreadlock at 21 minutes, a goal that was canceled by Patrick’s low kick to level matters at 48 minutes. This is the fourth Blantyre Derby draw consecutively. The last time the fixture produced the winner was in 2022 when Anthony Mfune came from the bench to score late after Vincent Nyangulu canceled Chimwemwe Idana’s opener.

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Mighty Mukuru Wanderers were the winners in the fixture in 2021, thanks to Nyangulu’s header that saw the Nomads bagging the bragging rights in a league Derby since 2012.

Straight into the game, with two teams leveled up on points, It was a game of two halves as teams were looking to get the rolling. However, Bullets seemed to have settled first before Wanderers who controlled most of the first half took over the proceedings.

Their dominance paid off just after 20 minutes when Isaac Kaliyati beat Innocent Nyasulu with a cool finish from Gaddie Chirwa’s well-orchestrated pass as Bullets’ defence was caught napping.

After going behind at the break, Bullets woke up to claim the authority of the match in the second half.

With two changes that Kalisto Pasuwa made at the recess, a fuming team people witnessed in the last 45 minutes. Babatunde Adepoju replaced Lanjesi Nkhoma, who scored 22 goals for the Club last season in all competitions, while Ronald Chitiyo replaced Aaron Banega in midfield.

The changes changed the complexion of the game as Bullets reclaimed the midfield. Babatunde and Mwaungulu combined again to get an equalizer. A ball landed on the feet of the number 18 who slotted it to Mwaungulu whose hammer shot beat Richard Chipuwa to deny him from recording his fourth consecutive clean sheet.

Speaking after the game, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets coach, Calisto Pasuwa described the outcome of the match to be fair as his team came slow in the match and only picked up in the second half.

“In the second we were second on the ball and we failed to attack but we came full throttle in the second half and we were offensive which made us get the goal.

“We are still lacking technique on finishing and we are going rectify that when we go back to training,” he said.

He further recommended the officiation panel for “excellently” handling the game.

Mighty Mukuru Wanderers assistant coach, Meck Mwase has said the team is satisfied with the point but he was quick to point out that they are having problems with utilizing chances, a thing they must look into.

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“We started well in the first half where we got a goal but Bullets studied our play and introduced tall players up front in the second half. Those changes proved hard for us to handle but we managed to defend well and we got a point in the end.

“Going forward, we will look at how best to improve our attacking force so that we can be converting many chances we are creating into goals,” he said.

Despite the disagreements that erupted over the officiation, Mayamiko Kanjere showed up to the task and handled the derby as desired. The ref flashed out 3 yellow cards to Felix Zulu, Ephraim Kondowe, and Ahmed Kung’unde.

The draw means both FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers have 9 points having played 5 league games.

Mighty Mukuru Wanderers sits on position 3 with a goal difference of +6 while FCB Nyasa Big Bullets sits on position 4 with a goal difference of +4.

Elsewhere, Silver Strikers claimed maximum points over Baka City at Karonga stadium to maintain a top stop on the log table.