Songwe Border United opened an eight-point gap at the summit of the NBS Bank National Division League after coming from behind to beat Embangweni United 2-1 at Karonga Ground Sunday.

Dickson Mwangonde netted the winner from the spot in the seventh minute of added time following a handball incident in the penalty box that sparked protests from Embangweni.

The visitors took the lead in the 29^th minute through Saviour Nkhoma but Thomas Shabani pulled the hosts level in the 68th minute.

Songwe coach assistant coach Edwin Kaonga he was pleased with his players fighting spirit.

“We started slow and went a goal down but we kept believing until we got the equaliser.

It was then anybody’s game until we scored the winning goal. We are excited to have widened the gap at the summit.

“But we took time to settle down in the first half and this allowed Embangweni to hit us.

But we spoke to them at half time and that is where things changed for the better. Some of our players did not have a good game,” Kaonga said.

Embangweni coach Dan Lusale blamed officiating personnel for the loss.

“We have not loss to Songwe. We have lost to the referee. Songwe did not play football today. It is the referee who has won. He was on their side and he has helped them.

We just need to continue working hard and get full points in our next game,” Lusale said.

With the win, Songwe cruised to 35 points at the summit of the table with 16 matches played, while Embangweni remained stuck on fifth position with 24 points from the same number of matches.

Extreme are second on the 12-team table with 27 points from 14 assignments.