Wanderers proceed to FISD Challenge Cup quarter finals

FISD Challenge Cup holders Be Forward Wanderers have started their 2019 campaign  aimed at defending the cup for the second consecutive year at a high note and send a serious warning to other teams when they hammered Masters Security 3-0 in the round of 16 match to proceed
to the quarter finals on Saturday at Kamuzu Stadium.

The current TNM Super League  leaders  opened the scoring account  in the 44th minute through a Felix Zulu’s beauty which gave the blue and yellow side supporters a relief before the two teams went for the first half break which the Lilongwe based side dominated in creating
several opportunities but their strikers were not lucky as they failed to put the ball into back of the net.

Wanderers  continued punishing  the 2018 Carlsberg Cup champions in the second half as their play got improved after making some changes by  bringing in Mike Kaziputa and Misheck
Bottomani who replaced Francisco Madinga and Zicco Mkanda who were not in their top form.

Kaziputa and Bottomani managed to build a deadly combination which caused a lot of troubles to the Alfred Gangata’s boys and no wonder after spending few minutes after being introduced into the field of play Bottomani added a classic goal in the 55th minute after making some dribbles in the eighteen yard box  that left Masters defenders on the ground before beating Chimwemwe Kumkwawa who was manning the goal.

There was nothing special to write on the Masters side in the second half as Wanderers was in control of the game in every department as Masters was failing to break the 4-4-2 formation deployed by Wanderers head coach Oscar Kaunda and his side looked very solid especially at
the back where Stanley Sanudi, Lucky Malata and Ted Sumani were in their top form with a help of their captain Alfred Manyozo Junior who was playing a holding role.

Masters key players Mussa Manyenje , Eneya Banda Juma Yatina and Bernard Chimayimba fought hard to find a goal but nothing worked and their mission and spirit of searching for goals got demoralized in the 88th minute when another super substitute Kaziputa made another damage for the third goal.

He scored from the distance of 25 metres with his left foot that went straight into the empty goal after Kumkwawa went outside the eighteen yard box to help his defenders in clearing the dangerous ball.

Nomads Coach Bob Mpinganjira  described the win as very vital because their main target
is to reach into finals and become the first team to clinch the cup for two consecutive years.

“I can accept that we really struggled in the first half but the boys started to be picking up in the second half after giving them instructions because like in most occasions they were a bit casual
which we need to avoid as we are going into quarter finals, but all in all I must recommend them for the job well done,” said Mpinganjira.

Newly appointed Masters Security coach Audrey Makonyola attributed lack of composure among his players as the main problem that contributed to their loss and he quickly promised that he will try to work on such areas as soon as possible.

“I only had few days with the boys and this was my first game to be on the touch line but I have seen a lot of positives from this game and their are only few areas which needs to be polished up within a short period,” said Makonyola.