By Staff Reporter
Nyasa Big Bullets have reached the Airtel Top-8 final after seeing off their bitter rivals Mighty Wanderers with a 4-1 victory at Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday.
The Kalisto Pasuwa’s men reached their second Airtel Top 8 final courtesy of Babatunde Adepoju who scored all the four goals against his former team.
The nomads started the game very well enjoying ball possession with Yamikani Chester being a thorn in Bullets’ defense.
However a handball in the Wanderers box gave Bullets a chance to take the lead as the Nigerian converted from the penalty sport in the 24th minute to raise Bullets’ hopes of winning a double this season.
Vincent Nyanguru cancelled Bullets’ lead 11 minutes later with a powerful header after receiving a cross from Stanley Sanudi.
In the second half, Pasuwa introduced striker Bright Munthali for Lanjesi Nkhoma while Wanderers coach Bob Mpinganjira replaced Aubrey Maloya and winger Ted Sumani with Wisdom Mpinganjira and Felix Zulu.
The last 45 minutes saw Bullets putting up a magnificent performance dominating proceedings and they were rewarded in the 51st minute when they got their second goal.
Adepoju scored his second from a rebound after a well taken freekick from Alick Lungu was broked by the upright.
He later completed his hat-trick in the 62nd minute after an assist from Lanjesi Nkhoma.
The Nigerian scored his fourth goal of the match and his eighth in the tournament in the 76th minute following a communication breakdown between Wanderers defender Peter Cholopi and his goalkeeper William Thole.
Apart from scoring the four goals the Bullets striker was also voted man of the match and received K50 million from Airtel.
The win means the People’s team have set up a tie against either Silver Strikers or Civil Service United who will meet in the second semi-final match.
Winners of this year’s Airtel top 8 cup will receive K17 million.
