Enugu Ladies Whip Benue In Football

The female football team of Enugu State Wednesday evening defeated their Benue opponents 3-0 in the football event of the ongoing Festival at the Agege Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria.

The Coal City ladies showed superiority over their opponents, as they dominated proceedings from the first half.

The tie, played under scorching sun saw Enugu having better ball possession against their more physical opponents.For greater part of the first half, the game was played in the half of Benue with their goalkeeper making some crucial saves.

As Enugu continued to pile pressure on the them, the backline of Benue crumbled in the 25th minute as Chukwu Favour got the curtain raiser via a goal mouth scramble.

With a goal down, the Fruit Basket girls left their rare in search of an equaliser but their opponents capitalised on their futile attack, as Uffor Francessca made it two in the 31st minute, through a counter attack.

The rest part of the first half remained a ding-dong affair before the centre referee ended it.Despite leading by two goals, Enugu were the most ambitious in the second half, running rings round their opponents.

With play continuing and a two goal lead, Enugu took the fight to Benue forcing them into committing fouls and getting some warnings from the referee.

Three bookings were made, two to Benue while the last was shown to an Enugu player.

Still not contented with the two goals, Coach Okey Nnamani of Enugu made three substitutions, the changes turned the heat of Benue.

Second substitution, Offor Chidera later became a thorn in the flesh of Benue, as her dazzling runs became a nightmare for her opponents.

Chidera created a lot of scoring chances for her teammates, but failed to utilise the opportunities.

Benue later took it upon themselves, adopting the long thrust hoping that it would pay off, but it did not.

Chidera on her part decided to do it all alone, at a time she took on three defenders, came face-to-face with the goalkeeper but shot wide.

As the clock was ticking away, Chidera continued to impress as the fans applaud her. However, her efforts was rewarded in the 85th minute after dribbling two defenders inside the 18 yard, her well placed shot caught the goalkeeper napping and scored the third goal.The match ended on that note, and the fans enjoyed themselves.

—Adebobola  Alawode