Following a convincing 2-0 victory over Bangwe All Stars on the road in Blantyre, rookies Chitipa United are now in first place in the Malawi Super League.
Chitipa lost 2-0 against Mighty Tigers on Sunday at Kamuzu Stadium in the same area, earning three out of a possible six points as a result.
With 39 points after 21 games, they have overtaken the defending champion FCB Nyasa Big Bullets, who are now in second place with 37 points after 18 games, thanks to the victory.
“It was a good reaction; I should thank my boys. We came up with a technical approach because we knew that Bangwe would come hard on us. We needed points so much,” said Chitipa United coach Macdonald Mtetemera .
“My team will keep fighting to collect maximum points so that we remain on top,” he added.
For Bangwe coach Abel Mkandawire whose team is on position 7 with 28 points from the same games as Chitipa said it was a bad day in the office.
“We had chances, but we missed them, we need to accept it was a bad day. They are the same players who have been scoring, but today was not possible. We will go back and work on our mistakes,” he said.
Bangwe did not utilize chances.
On the day, Bangwe were the best team in the first half, but they squandered eight clear scoring opportunities that came their way.
Second half the visitors came with guns blazing, had a lot of chances but it was Lorenzo Ghedo who drew first blood in the 80 minutes after he took to himself a defender, leaving him down before rounding off the goalkeeper.
Lorenzo Ghedo scored the opening goal in the 80th minute after he took on a defender, dribbled past him and then finished off the goalkeeper as the visitors came out swinging in the second half.
Godfrey Kwiyokwa sealed the victory in the added time with a powerful header from a close range.
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Chikumbutso Salima of Bangwe came close to restoring parity, but goalkeeper George Chikooka, who was named man of the match, stopped him in a one-on-one situation.