Silver Strikers has maintained third with 11 points from 5 games following a goalless draw against Dedza Dynamos at Dedza stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The central bankers technical panel was led by first assistant coach Etson Kadenge Mwafulirwa who made changes to the team that played Ekwendeni Hammers a fortnight ago.
Kadenge dropped Duncan Nyoni and Atusaye Nyondo for Tatenda M’balaka who started as a left back and shifted Mark Fodya forward who featured as a left winger.
Nickson Mwase returned to the first eleven after serving his suspension and replaced Emmanuel Muyira who started in the last outing of the team.
This was the first game without head coach Peter de Jongh who was serving a suspension after being booked in the previous fixture.
The match was a 50-50 affair as both the hosts and the guest showed hunger to break the deadlock but all the efforts proved futile.
30 minutes into the game Mark Fodya forced a save from goalkeeper Anthony Singini after he curled in a left footed free kick.
Just minutes later a similar chance arose and Fodya delivered another well taken free kick that went an inch on top of Emmanuel Kaunga’s head.
The last action from the Central Bankers in the first interval came five minutes before the stoppage time of the first half as the Area 47 outfit launched a counter attack with Chimwemwe Idana and Stain Davie exchanging passes that saw Davie taking a shot on target that Singini saved with ease.
At the start of the second half, the Central Bankers made a change with Fodya paving way for Zebron Kalima.
The search for a goal continued on both teams but nothing materialised to break the deadlock.
Further changes were made at both ends as the hosts substituted Charles Chipala, Victor Lungu, Limbani Phiri and Promise Kamwendo. While Kadenge made other changes later on as he brought in Duncan Nyoni, Rodwell Robert for Maxwell Paipi and Patrick Macheso.
These changes brought no dividends in terms of goals. Godfrey Nkhakananga blew the final whistle signalling the end of the match after the elapse of three added minutes. It ended goalless.
Speaking after the match, Kadenge said he was frustrated not to win the match stating that competition is abit stiff at the moment but said he was happy to return to Lilongwe with a point and a clean sheet.
“This was an open game. It could have gone either way, we created a few chances but couldn’t score. The positive thing is that we also managed to get a clean sheet.” said Kadenge.
On the tactical approach to start Fodya as a left winger, Kadenge said it was the correct call as they wanted to close off their opponents.
“Our opponents were using a 4-3-3 formation where they had three speedy attacking players so we wanted to make sure we diffuse them. I can say it worked to our advantage as we managed them well and they didn’t score.” he said.
Silver Strikers play their next match on Friday against Mighty Tigers to get level on the number of games with the rest on the teams in the TNM Super league.
