By Lusekero Mhango
KARONGA-(MaraviPost)-Chitipa United’s unlikely title race charge for the TNM Super League continues to gather pace after coming from a goal down to defeat Civil Service United 2-1 in an encounter played on Saturday afternoon.
The victory which was engineered by man of the match Rajab Nyirenda who scored one and assisted another for Ramadhan Ntafu, meant that Chitipa climbed up a step in the league standings to second a point clear of Silver Strikers in third and level on points with reigning champions FCB Nyasa Big Bullets on 26 points from 14 games with the latter having played a game fewer.
While Civil who have had an inconsistent start to the league season remain in ninth with 16 points to their name from 14 matches.
The encounter which was played in front of an expectant partisan home crowd at the Karonga Stadium, saw the visitors begin strongly as Binwell Katinji had his right footed effort come back off the post after beating the offside trap in the 4th minute of the game.
In the 22nd minute however the Lilongwe based outfit took a deserved lead as Innocent Tanganyika rose unchallenged in the box to powerfully head in Patrick Phiri’s corner-kick to stun the Karonga Stadium into silence.
However the lead only lasted 2 minutes as the home side hit back through Ramadhan Ntafu’s well taken goal following a right-wing cross from Rajab Nyirenda.
With their tales up following the equalizer Chitipa took control of the match and went close twice to taking the lead before half time but cross range shots from the impressive Nyirenda in the 32nd minute and Stain Patrick in the 40th minute respectively went narrowly wide passed the visitors goal-posts.
In the second half the home side continued where they had left off piling pressure on a tiring Civil defense and were awarded for their pressure in the 59th minute as Nyirenda capitalized on a clearance that ricocheted to him and stroked the ball into the net to send the home fans wiled.
Despite applying late pressure in search for the equalizer the visitors failed to create any notable chance to trouble George Chikooka as the home side hanged on comfortably to register a six straight home victory at the Karonga Stadium.
In a post-match interview the victorious Chitipa United coach MacDonald Mtetemera, expressed delight in coming from a goal down to collect the maximum three points.
“It was a tough encounter but I am delighted with our fighting spirit that we showcased on the field to come back from a goal down and emerge winners,” he said.
However his counterpart Oscar Kaunda, attributed the defeat to a lack of concentration from his defence.
“It was an even game that could have gone either way but poor defending on our part from the 2 goals was the reason why we are going home with nothing,” said Kaunda.