By Twimepoki Mangani
Lilongwe, August 10, Mana: Football enthusiasts were on Wednesday treated to an exciting matchup between Extreme FC and Civil Service United in which both teams left it till late before they each scored to play out to a 1-1 draw at Civo Stadium in the TNM Super League.
Extreme FC were coming off a loss to FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in the FDH Bank cup while Civil Service were last in action when they registered a league win against Silver Strikers.
Civil Service were the better side in the first half, they kept better possession and looked more lethal in front of goal.
Muhamad Biason attempted to create Civil’s first chance when his clever but misplaced through ball went straight to goal keeper Blessings Juma. Momentously, Chikaiko Batson dribbled past midfielder, Grevin Ng’anjo and laid off a pass to Biason who shot over the bar.
Extreme FC suffered an injury blow to defender, Trevor Kalema in the 15th minute with John Chalamanda replacing him.
Levison Gopani should have put Extreme FC ahead at least by two goals but was not clinical enough when he missed deliveries from Innocent Chipolopolo and Justice Honde respectively.
By contrast, Civil Service United amassed 10 chances in the first half and had another nine in the second while Extreme FC lagged in chance creation with seven in each half.
The second half had a similar complexion to that of the first, with Civil Service dominating and show casing their attacking velvet in the early minutes while Extreme left it late to push up the tempo and try to catch Civil on the counter.
Batson was the pace setter for Civils goal when he run circles in midfield and found substitutes Innocent Tanganyika who set up a perfect cross for Patrick Phiri to head home on the 89th minute.
With two minutes added on for extra time, Extreme FC remained resilientand their substitute pair Babangida Ishaya passed to Beston Jimu who slotted in the equalizer.
In a post-match interview, Assistant Coach for Civil Service, Wilson Chidati accented to the difficultly of the match and noted that his team had lost concentration in the dying minutes.
“We are not happy with the result we also had a similar out comein the first round which may mean we are at par with the opponent,” he said.
Coach for Extreme FC, Elvis Kafoteka expressed relief with the result, hailing his men for working hard to the wire and also revealed that the team is accessing some new reinforcements while the transfer window is still open.
