Ekhaya Football Club head coach Enos Chatama has blamed mounting pressure for his team’s 1-0 defeat to Civil Service United at Civo Stadium on Wednesday, as the Cowboys suffered their third consecutive loss across all competitions.

The defeat, courtesy of Dastin Banda’s first-half strike, saw Ekhaya slip from fourth to sixth place in the TNM Super League table, having now lost six crucial points in their last two league matches.

Speaking after the match, a dejected Chatama admitted that the psychological weight of recent defeats had affected his players’ performance against the Servants.

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“Today, pressure killed us,” Chatama said candidly. “After losing on Sunday [against Mzuzu City Hammers], the boys came hard to win this game, but that was not good for the team. They seemed to have lost direction, confidence, and the mojo of the game.”

The Ekhaya coach revealed that Sunday’s shock home defeat to Mzuzu City Hammers continued to weigh heavily on his squad’s minds, creating a negative cycle that hampered their performance against Civil Service United.

“The defeat on Sunday has also affected us in this game,” Chatama explained. “On Sunday, we were very complacent, and we told them that we had to start the second round on a high note, but we failed and lost at home.”

He drew a stark contrast between the different psychological factors that contributed to their recent defeats: “We can say that complacency killed us on Sunday; today, pressure killed us.”

“Players cracking under weight of expectations”

Chatama observed that his players were unable to settle into their rhythm due to the burden of expectation and the desperation to bounce back from their previous setback.

“It was a game which we never settled quickly due to pressure because the boys were playing under pressure,” he said. “They wanted to win this game, which created too much pressure. Had we won on Sunday, it would have been a different game because we could have played without pressure.”

The coach noted that while his team showed fighting spirit, the mental pressure ultimately proved decisive in their downfall.

“Today, there was a sense of fighting spirit – the boys were fighting for the ball, covering every inch of the pitch – but there was too much pressure,” Chatama added.

The Ekhaya mentor identified a troubling pattern in his team’s recent defeats, suggesting that overconfidence had been their undoing in crucial matches.

“In the last two games, we lost against Moyale Barracks [in FDH Bank Cup] and Mzuzu City Hammers. They thought that the games were already won,” he revealed.

Chatama pointed to his team’s previous success against both opponents as evidence of this misplaced confidence: “We beat Moyale Barracks at Kamuzu Stadium 3-0, we beat Hammers 3-1 at their own backyard in the first round. We thought that it would be easy, but at the end of the day, we ended up losing those games.”

While acknowledging the psychological factors, Chatama also highlighted tactical issues that contributed to the defeat, particularly a crucial defensive error that led to the decisive goal.

“For today’s game, we were good, but we lost due to a defensive mistake,” he said. “In the second half, we were very good and fought very hard, but we failed to get a goal. We created more chances but never converted them.”

Despite the setback, Chatama remained optimistic about his team’s potential, emphasizing that the issue is mental rather than tactical.

“I think it’s all about confidence, it’s all about composure, and they don’t need to underrate teams,” he said. “The good thing is that we are losing with good players. We don’t need to change the team much – we only have one or two positions which we need to iron out.”

With 39 points still to play for this season, the Ekhaya coach stressed that his focus remains on rebuilding his players’ mental strength.

“We have to go back to the drawing board to iron it out. It’s a process,” Chatama concluded. “Once the boys have gelled up and we work on their confidence and composure, we will start getting results. The future looks bright.”