Mighty Wanderers have secured a hard-fought place in the Semi-Finals of the 2025 FDH Bank Cup after edging Creck Sporting Club 3-2 on post-match penalties. The tense encounter, played at Aubrey Dimba Stadium in Mchinji District on Sunday, ended goalless in regulation time.
Wanderers registered the first real threat in the 7th minute when Sama Thierry Tanjong released a clever through ball to Wisdom Mpinganjira. The forward skillfully beat two defenders before delivering a cross into the box, but their attacking midfielder, Adam Walles, was flagged offside.
By the 20th minute, fullback Stanley Sanudi found Sama via a cross, and it was connected by a bicycle kick, which went over the bar.
Creck, the home side, managed to respond through counter-offensive penetrative football by George Chaomba and Hassan Hussein, but Wanderers’ defence stood firm.
The home side’s Ademola Ajibola came close to scoring on the 22nd minute, but his shot struck the post and went over.
By the 30th minute, the referee Zebron Lengani called for a water-break, and this was followed by Creck resuming with attacking football, as Harvey Nasiyaya and Frank Phiri, managed to link well, but were not clinical.
Creck’s George Chaomba managed to threaten Wanderer’s keeper, Dalitso Khungwa, on the 33rd minute as he struck a shot directly to him, but he had managed to save it.
On the 36th minute, Wanderer’s Mpinganjira managed to dribble past Dalitso Nahipa and released a shot with his weaker side, left foot, which narrowly missed the target.
This was followed by starting from behind as Creck’s keeper, Brighton Munthali launched a lob to Hussein who forwarded the ball to Felix Zulu, who was brought down to initiate a set-piece taken by Hardy Ng’andu— but went wide.
In the second-half, Wanderers opted to refresh the squad as Daniel Kudonto Jnr replaced Adam and Sama paved way for Promise Kamwendo.
But these changes were not an instant hit, because Creck were attackin in numbers, with some on-target efforts by Nasiyaya and Chaomba.
From then, up until the 66th minute, Creck were in total control of the game and were pushing for a deadlock breaker, as the partnership between Chaomba and Hussein failed to capitalise.
This forced Elijah Kananji, theor coack, to replace Hussein with Kondwani Chilembwe.
When only fifteen minutes were left on the clock, Wanderer’s Mpinganjira made a long-range effort and struck the post only for it to be cleared by Creck’s defence.
However, Creck’s goalie, Munthali, picked up a minor injury and the game was halted for about 5 minutes.
In the dying minutes, Wanderers subbed off Masiya Manda and Vitumbiko Kumwenda for Isaac Kaliati and Blessings Singini, probably a tactical move for the penalty shoot-outs.
On the 90th minute, 5 minutes were added, and on the last minute, Creck also did a similar move by taking of Nasiyaya and goalkeeper, munthali for Emmance Nyirenda and Patrick Macheso.
In the penalty shoot-outs, Wanderers started. Masiya Manda converted his, and Creck responded through Frank Phiri. Wanderers’ Kamwendo also converted his and so did Creck’s Chaomba.
However, nervousness gripped Wanderers when Emmanuel Nyirenda’s penalty was saved by Creck’s keeper, Emmance Nyirenda. But this was not for long because the following penalty for Creck, which was taken by Ramadhan Ntafu, was saved by Wanderers’ Khungwa.
Blessings Mwalilino managed to put his side ahead, Wanderers, as he scored and Emmance Nyirenda, the goalkeeper for Creck, had his penalty saved to seal their fate — being eliminated in the tournament.
Despite the loss, Creck’s Chaomba was awarded as the man-of-the-match.
Creck’s coach, Elijah Kananji, said he was still proud of his charges because they had managed to play according to their game plan.
“We approached Wanderers’ goal many times but our last touch was faulty so we will go back to the drawing board and rectify this error,” Kananji said.
Nonetheless, the coach also criticised his own last minute change by replacing the goalkeepers.
Bob Mpinganjira, Wanderers’ Coach, described the game as one of their ‘toughest in the season’.
“It was a very difficult game and we did not play our usual game. We were flat from the beginning and we failed to raise it up, lucky enough we won it through the penalties. I am really happy we have made it to the semifinals,” Mpinganjira said.
This means Wanderer’s will face their cross-town arch-rivals FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in the last four, a Blantyre-Derby.
