Bullets in 2nd Castel final

FCB Nyasa Bullets yesterday beat Mzuzu City Hammers 2-0 at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre to qualify for their second Ibongetse Castel Cup final. The People’s Team will face Goshen City Dedza Dynamos in the final on February 21 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe. Yesterday’s victory was a sweet revenge for Bullets, who were sent packing from last year’s edition by Hammers at the same stage of the competition through post-match penalties.

Lessons learnt, Bullets started the match at full throttle and had four three corner-kicks eithin the first 14 minutes which were, however, abortive. Midfielder Wongani Lungu, a former Hammer, punished his old team with a brace. He drew first blood in the fourth minute of added time in the first half with a hard-and-low shot past Hammers’ goalkeeper Vincent Kamwambe after receiving a perfectly weighted pass from Yamikani Mologeni to calm the nerves among Bullets faithful.

To add fire-power upfront, Hammers, who booted out Mighty Wanderers 5-3 through post penalties in the quarter-finals and Silver Strikers 2-1, introduced Hassan Luwembe and Samson Olatubasun for Alex Msiska and Alex Orotomal, respectively. Lungu sealed the hosts’ victory in the 72nd minute again after being set up by Mologeni. Job done, Lungu was taken off stage in the 81st minute for Frank Willard.

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Bullets coach Gilbert Chirwa hailed his charges for playing according to game plan. “We knew it would not be easy, we watched video clips of their matches and did a good homework on them,” he said. On his part, Hammers interim coach Lazarus Deco Nyemera said they didn’t play according to their game plan.

“After booting out Silver Strikers and Wanderers, we knew Bullets would come hard on us and surely they did. It was a tough game,” he said. Bullets were the first winners of the cup in 2023 followed by Wanderers who won it last year.

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