Wednesday night was another painful moment to soccer fans when the Flames gave away a 1-0 lead in the COSAFA Cup match in South Africa, to force a 1-1 draw against the Zebras of Botswana.

The Flames started the match on a high note giving hopes to Malawians who were watching the game.

Just five minutes after the kick off in the first half, the Flames’ left back, Precious Sambani, broke loose from the back and found himself into the opponent’s half where he found the space outside the Botswana box before firing a short which went past the Zebras goalkeeper, Mwampule Masule, to make it 1-0.

The state of affairs was still 1-0 in favor of the flames as the teams went for a break.

The second half was tight when both sides failed to utilize scoring opportunities.

But the same old Flames disease erupted in the dying minutes when the Zebras spoiled the hopes by scoring an equalizer at 88th minute to make it 1-1 until the final whistle.

The result means Botswana remain at the summit of Group B with 4 points, followed by Angola and Mauritius respectively and both have 3 point each.

Malawi is anchoring the group’s table with just a point and is expected to wrap up their group assignment on Friday against Angola.

The Flames has never won COSAFA cup since its inception in 1997 but the team managed to reach the final stage in 2002.

According to the records, since Coach Ronny Van Geneugden took charges of the Flames in April last year, the team has won two games out of 14games played, and has managed to register 6 goals.