….Dedza 0-1 Wanderers

By Edwin Mbewe

DEDZA-(MaraviPost)-One of the Blantyre giants, Mighty Wanderers left Dynamos of Dedza Wandering when they stunned the host with a 0-1 margin in front of fully parked Stadium.

The highly contested match ended nil-nil in the first stanza, as Dedza thought they would do better in the second half being at home.

This wasn’t to be as the visitors scored second half early goal through their seasonal midfielder -Isaac Kaliat who had beaten Dedza goalkeeper, Donnex Mwakisinga with a hammering shot.

The home team started the match on high note with Marco Chiwaya releasing Luke Chima whose effort was palmed away by Nomads goal-minder-Dalitso Khungwa and on rebound he placed his effort wide in the very first minute of the half.

Wanderers replied so quickly as Stanley Sanudi whipped the ball from a free-kick but one of Dynamos’ defenders headed it away for safety in the 5th minute of the second half of the match.

In the 10th minute Dedza Dynamos’ Yasin Chida beat his marker before he released the ball to Bright Masebo on the left but his close range pass was too much as it didn’t meet one of his Strikers.

In the 15th minute, the Nomads showed some glimpse of good football as they exchanged sexy passes among Stanley Sanudi, Felix Zulu, Blessings Singini but lost possession to Bright Masebo who played a backheel to Frank Chikufenji, the former Mighty Tigers player who played a long ball to find his Striker but the assistant referee’s flag was up for offside.

Blessings Mwalirino unleashed a powerful shot but Mwakasinga flew to make a spectacular save which resulted into a first corner kick to Wanderers that Dedza easily dealt with in the 19th minute.

The visitors made their first substitution in the 24th minute as Isaac Kaliati replaced Rajab Nyirenda. In the 30th minute the Nomads won a free-kick that Kaliat took a short one to Mpinganjira who tried to find his way into the penalty box but his intended cross was blocked for a corner.

From that moment Wanderers started piling pressure to the home side and for how long could Dedza withstand the heat?

Marco Chiwaya well controlled the ball before walking away from seasonal defender Stanley Sanudi, he played a diagonal pass to Bright Masebo on the right flank but the flag was up for offside in the 41st minute.

Dedza seemed to have ignited fire in the closing minutes of the first stanza as in the 42nd minute, Marco Chiwaya played a good pass to Masebo who headed it down to Chifuniro Mpinganjira in the box but he was to heavy and too shy as Sanudi beat him to rescue the danger, this resulted into the corner-kick that Nomads defended with much ease.

However, in the very dot of the stanza Dedza Dynamos bench wanted the referee, Easter Zimba to flash a card to Sanudi for fouling Chiwaya but the man in black was not moved untill he blew the whistle to end the first half, with the score margin at 0-0.

In the second stanza,it was now the Nomads who seemed to have refilled their tanks well as they started on a high note, in the 47th minute Adam Wallace drew a foul close to the penalty box, the referee gave Wanderers a free-kick, Kaliati took the responsibility but his effort met nobody in blue shirt.

A minute later, the Nomads efforts were answered as they scored through Isaac Kaliati who beat Mwakasinga with a hammering shot in the 48th minute.

In the 58th minute Wanderers appealed for a penalty after Adam Wallace’s left-footed shot came off the arm of one of the Dedza defenders but Zimba waved for a play on.

Dynamos head coach Alex Ngwira made a change in the 62nd minute as Gift Magola and David Habu replaced Frank Chikufenji and Yasin Chida, while Bright Masebo was replaced by Winnie Chimutu in the 69th minute.

Wanderers kept pushing for goals, Adam Wallace received a good ball from Isaac Kaliati but whistled his effort just over the bar in the 73rd minute.

Nomads made another change in the 79th minute as Promise Kamwendo replaced Blessings Mwalirino.

In the 80th minute, Kaliati had another clear-cut chance for the Nomads with a goal gapping but he decided to send his effort into the air.

Cameroonian Striker Samma Tanjong and Dan Kudonto came on for Adam Wallace and Clement Nyondo in the 84th minute.

Wisdom Mpinganjira could have scored a dying minute goal as he invited goalkeeper, Mwakasinga to make a save after he combined well with Promise Kamwendo and soon Easter Zimba blew the whistle to end the match, and yes Dynamos were left wandering at Dedza Stadium as the Nomads maintained the second position on the table.

Isaac Kaliati was later player of the match.

Since 2022 the Nomads have never lost a game at Dedza Stadium, on 9 September 2022 the two sides played to a 2-2 draw, on August 18, 2024 they played to a goalless draw and Sunday’s victory meant the Blantyre completed a double over the Dedza based side.

The Nomads remain second on the ladder with 42 points from 19 games four points shy to the table leaders FCB Nyasa Big Bullets who came from 0-1 behind to win it 2-1 over the defending champions Silver Strikers at Kamuzu Stadium.