Malawi nearly blew a three-goal advantage over Zimbabwe in their friendly in Blantyre, but held on to condemn the Warriors to yet another defeat.

The Flames went ahead on 24 minutes, as Essau Kanyenda converted a penalty with easy style.

And ten minutes later Malawi had doubled their lead, with John Maduka finding the net.

Malawi went in at half time seemingly cruising to victory, and that impression was further enhanced when Itaye Lundwe steered home their third five minutes after the break.

But it turned out that was just to be the first of three goals in a frantic thirteen minutes.

Suddenly, faced with the prospect of complete humiliation, Zimbabwe began to mount a comeback.

Only three minutes after Lundwe had seemingly secured the victory, Francis Chandida scored for Zimbabwe to put things in doubt.

And, with time on their side, the Warriors continued to attack and ten minutes later were only one goal behind, as James Matola finished off a great penetrating move.

But despite mounting further waves of pressure, Zimbabwe could not find the equaliser that would have secured a much-needed result after the sheer humiliation of their 2-0 defeat to Swaziland in the Cosafa Cup.