Moyale, Civo, Eagles and Lions reach Standard Bank semis
Defending champions Moyale, Blue Eagles, Civo United and Red Lions have booked themselves a place in the semi-finals of the 2011 Standard Bank knockout cup.
Moyale thumped Mighty Wanderers 3 – 0 in the first leg at Kalulu stadium and continued from where they stopped and dumped the Nomads out of the competition with a 1 – 0 victory at home on Saturday and 4 – 0 on aggregate.
Wanderers had a daunting task to upset the tables and score 4 goals without reply but the invincible soldiers of Kaning’ina made sure of qualification through a Gastin Simukonda’s early strike.
Coach Nicolas Mhango says he is excited to have qualified for the semifinals again this year.
“We are serious about defending the cup and this result underlines our commitment. I said it that we were one foot into the semis after that 3 – 0 victory away and here we are now,” he said.
At the Civo stadium, Civo United qualified for the semis, getting the better of rivals Silver Strikers again and showing the Standard bank exit door.
Led by veteran players Itaye Nundwe, Sibusiso Padambo and Hellings Mwakasungula following the suspension of coach Dan Dzinkambani the central bankers had an assignment too hard to handle and failed miserably to upset their 2 – 1 first leg defeat.
They lost again with the same margin with Dickson Mbetewa and Martin Masoatheka goals. Ndaziona Chilemba pulled one back but the damage had already been done.
Coach for Civo Alex Masanjala praised his boys for making sure that the civil servants qualify for the semis for the third year running.
“We just finished what we started last week and we are excited to have qualified,” Masanjala said.
Civo’s reward for beating Silver is a date against Blue Eagles in the semifinals. Blue Eagles ran riot at Chitowe stadium when they taught Mafco some soccer lessons the hard way with a 6 – 0 drubbing to advance on an emphatic 10 – 0 aggregate victory. The Eagles were 4 – 1 winners in the first leg and vowed to turn on the heat in the second leg to march forward.
Blue Eagles coach Dicklerk Nsakakuona was on cloud nine with this historic victory and has promised to work hard to rech the finals.
His counterpart Temwa Msuku bamoaned poor defending but conceeded defeat saying the Eagles deserved to win because they were the best side in both legs.
Red Lions will meet defending champions Moyale after advancing to the semis with a 4 – 3 aggreagate win over Escom United. The two teams drew 1 – 1 at the Balaka stadium to bring out an all soldiers affair in the semis.
The organising committee is yet to announce the venues for the semifinal games.
Classfied results
Civo 2 Silver 1(4-2 on aggregate)
Moyale 1 Wanderers 0(4 – 0 on aggregate)
Blue Eagles 6 Mafco 0(10 – 0 on aggregate)
Red Lions 1 Escom 1(4 – 3 on aggregate)
Semifinal fixture
Moyale v Red Lions
Civo v Blue Eagles
