By Staff Reporter
Nyasa Big Bullets have won the Airtel top 8 cup after beating Silver Strikers 5-3 on post-match penalties in Saturday’s final at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
The game ended 1-all in regulation time and it had to take penalties to separate the two and for the Peoples team to win the Airtel top 8 cup for the first time.
Silver’s Stain Davie opened the scoring just nine minutes into the game with a cool finish past Bullets goalie Ernest Kakhobwe.
However, Lanjesi Nkhoma cancelled Silver’s lead seven minutes later to give the Blantyre giants hopes of winning a double this year.
Chiukepo Msowoya nearly increased Bullets’ lead in the 23rd minute but his header went up the cross bar
In the 28th minute there were penalty shouts after a Silver Strikers player fouled Hassan Kajoke in the penalty area but referee Newton Nyirenda waved play on.
The second half saw the Peoples team bringing in Zicco Mkanda and Eric Kaonga for Chiukepo Msowoya and Alick Lungu while the central bankers brought in Innocent Shema for Mike Roberts and Chokondi Kamanga for Tawonga Chimodzi. Blessings Tembo and Patrick Macheso also paved way for Maxwell Phodo and Levison Maganizo.
Bullets also brought in Precious Phiri for Hassan Kajoke and penalty specialist Yamikani Fodya for Charles Petro towards the end of the match.
Despite the changes there were still no goals from either side and the match went straight into the penalty shootout.
Bullets scored all their five penalties through Yamikani Fodya, Zicco Mkanda,
Chimwemwe Idana,
Gomezgani Chirwa and Nickson Nyasulu
On the other hand Silver scored their penalties through Frank Banda, Stain Davie and Innocent Shema. Levison Maganizo missed his spot kick for Silver Strikers.
The victory means Bullets have secured a double this season, having won also the TNM Super League.
Opponents Silver Strikers are the Airtel top 8 most successful side, winning it on 2 occasions since its inception in 2017.
The 2021 champions have received K17 million while Silver have received K5.5 million for being runners up
Bullets’ Babatunde won the golden boot award with 8 goals and went home with K500, 000 from Airtel
