Agatu and Vandeikya Local Governments soccer teams have qualified for the final of the Benue state prestigious Governor’s cup.
The Obagaji boys left no one in doubt of their determination to win the Governor’s cup as they continue with merciless decimation of their opponent through an all fronts attacks and dangerous incursions into opponent’s 18th yards and setting the pace of the game.
The sustained onslaught on the Apa team eventually paid off in the 20th minutes of play as the fire power of the Obagaji boys became too much for comfort with Sani Audu netting in the first goal for the Agatu team.
The Apa team, roared back to life in an efforts to equalise as they went out for showdown but yielded no positive result as the Agatu team frustrated their tactics and antics denying them the chances to score and also failed to capitaise on early free kick awarded to them.
After five minutes of resumption into second half, the “Melvin Ikwuma” boys also wasted no time, as Isaiah Joseph fired a powerful shot that caught the Apa goal stopper napping to register the 2nd goal for the Agatu team.
Both teams made some changes by injecting new blood which actually changed the pace and patterns of play.The changes on the Apa team could not yield desired result as the dominance of the Agatu team became more visible frustrating every movements made by the Apa team and the match ended 2 -0 in favour of Agatu team.
Commenting, the former Vice Chairman of Agatu local government council and media Aid to Hon Abba Moro, Hon John Anthony Ikwulono and the media Aid to Hon. Ojema Ojotu, Olikita Ikanni both expressed optimisms that the Obagaji boys will surely lift the trophy and commended the boys for putting up a good fight that brought them this far and hope to do everything within the contest of the tournament to win.
However, the Alia Guda boys as usual entered the field of play with resolve to win the prestigious trophy taking, advantage of their youthful players, ball control, agility and intimidating appearance haven earlier decimated the Ohimini team which sent them packing out of the tournament via a 4 unreplied goals must have sent a warning signal to their opponent that the semi final encounter will not be funny.
Coincidentally, just like the Agatu team, five minutes into play, a mouth tussle led to an own goal in favour of the Kunav boys who as usual takes control of the match entertaining spectators with various staminas and ball contol dictating the pace of the game. They however, misses and wasted away several scoring opportunities.
In a fierce counter attack by the Katsina- Ala team who were also immune against any surprise went all fronts using their wings to distribute balls and made dangerous incursions into opponent’s 18 yards but all failed to locate the net till the end of the first half.
Two minutes into second half of the game, the Kunav boys with a new pattern of play scored another goal to bring it to 2 and another own goal in the 19 minutes of resumption of play. But the resilient and dogged fight of the Katsina-Ala boys and the never say die spirit paid off as they reduced the tally by converting what seems to be their best opportunity as the tally stood at 3 -1 at the final blast of the whistle.
From the sideline, the Chairman of Vandeikya Local Government council, Hon. Dennis Terkura Guda, expressed joy over the victory by his boys as they have qualified for the final level of the tournament, “what do you expect ? The boys are physically and psychologically prepared for the tournament”.
The Vandeikya team coach, Benjamin Kude also used the opportunity to commends Governor Hyacinth Alia for reviving the tournament and hope to lift the trophy as according to him “we have trained for three months and and we have the financial backing of our chairman who motivated the team, we are good to go”.
With this results, the stage is set between Agatu team and the Vandeikya team for the final of the Governor’s cup while Apa and Katsina-Ala will lock horns for the 3rd position of the tournament on a date yet to be announced.
