Silver Strikers Reserve and Ladies teams will kick off their respective seasons this weekend. The Reserve side will travel to Aubrey Dimba Stadium to face Santhe Admarc on Sunday, while the Ladies’ side will host Hungry Lions at Silver Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday.
The McDonald Yobe-led side finished 5th in the first phase of the 2024 Chipiku Premier Division League, failing to qualify for the final round of the competition, marking one of the worst seasons in recent years.
However, Yobe believes his team needs to regain its form and improve on last season’s performance to compete for the championship.
“We had a torrid season last year as we did not match our opponents in several aspects, we lost some games at home that we needed to win at all costs, and we ended up accumulating fewer points. At the moment, we have assembled a new squad that I feel has what it takes to compete and bring home results. We begin with an away trip to Mchinji, which we know is tough, but we just have to work on our game and return with a result,” said Yobe.
Meanwhile, Silver Strikers Ladies will be back in action on Saturday after a successful run in 2024, which saw them finish third in the regional phase of the Goshen FAM Women’s Championship. They later qualified for the national tournament, where they finished second after losing to Kukoma Ntopwa Queens in post-match penalties in the final.
The Area 47 Ladies’ Head Coach, Andy Chikhosi, feels his team is ready for the new challenge.
“This is a new season and a new opportunity for us to rewrite our story. We have to start strong and win the regional phase this time as we aim for the national championship; last year we did our best but lost in the final, which I must say was painful. We haven’t dwelt much on how we finished the season, but we aim to come back stronger and be a better side,” said Chikhosi.
The two teams begin the 2025 season as the Senior side is on a FIFA International break.
