Temwa Chawinga outshines Barbra Banda as Wuhan hand Shanghai Shengli’s first defeat

Temwa Chawinga was on target as Wuhan maintained their unbeaten record after defeating Barbra Banda’s Shanghai Shengli 3-0 in a Chinese Women’s Super League encounter on Saturday.

After a 1-1 draw with Changchun Dazhong, Wuhan were keen to secure a win to halt Shanghai’s winning run for the first time, having fallen two points behind the league leaders.

On their part, Shanghai aimed to keep up their fantastic momentum against Wuhan after opening a two-point gap at the top following Wednesday’s 4-1 triumph over Beijing Phoenix.

The Southern African stars have been impressive on their first outings for their respective clubs in the Chinese top-flight, with Malawi striker Chawinga scoring three goals in six games for Wuhan.

While Zambia star Banda has found the back of the net eight times for Shanghai, with one behind topscorer Changchun’s Sole Jaimes after Wednesday’s hat-trick against Beijing in Kunming.

Chawinga opened the scoring with her individual brilliance to break the deadlock for Wuhan in the top-of-the-table clash with Shanghai.

Hopes for a possible comeback were buried for Shanghai when Wang Shuang and Lu Yueyun also got on the scoresheet to condemn the leaders to their first defeat of the season.

Before the final whistle, chaos broke out on the pitch when Camilla attacked Wu Haiyan from behind after the Brazilian was sent off.

Banda lasted the duration for Shanghai but could not add to her tally nor save her side from their first defeat of the campaign.

Chawinga bagged her fourth goal of the season to ensure Wuhan remain the only unbeaten side in the competition after seven matches.

With this result, Chawinga’s Wuhan are top of the standings of the Chinese top-flight with 19 points from seven games, while Banda’s Shanghai dropped to second with 18 points from the same number of ties.