The University of Benin Teaching Hospital Inter-Professional Veterans football championship continued on Monday at the UBTH Sports complex with a narrow win for UBTH All Stars and NASST Wheelers.
The NASST team made quite an entry as they arrived with a huge number of their supporter’s club and a band team, which already filled half of the UBTH Sports complex seats — the atmosphere was fantastic as the seats were filled to the brim.
The first half began with so much intensity, with NASST Wheelers dominating possession and pushing hard for goals; the UBTH FC goalkeeper, Emma Okocha, was up to the task, making crucial saves.
The first half seemed like it was going to end goalless, but UBTH FC got a breakthrough courtesy of Kirutsi Ikaa, who nodded a volley from a corner kick, giving his side the lead. Things got worse for NASST Wheelers as two of their players were handed yellow cards for rough tackling.
The second half saw the Wheelers pushing very hard for an equalizer, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. Despite having some clear-cut chances and two early corner kicks in the second half, they lacked the clinical finish that was needed to get a goal; the UBTH FC goalkeeper, not making it easy for them, continued to deny them with brilliant saves to keep his team ahead.
As the game got into crunch time, the Wheelers FC refused to give up, making three substitutes to ensure they grabbed an equalizer, and just when they thought they had gotten their equalizer, the goal was ruled out by the Referee.
At the blast of the final whistle, UBTH FC got a hard-fought 1-0 victory, with their first-half goal making the difference.
In a post-match interview, UBTH FC coach Alade Patrick credited their first win to the almighty God and also praised his team’s determination and focus, saying.
“We give God the glory, and we thank Ikaa, the goalscorer, and we also appreciate the team because we all did well and played as a team, and we improve for the best in the next game”.
NASST Wheelers coach Ayo Babatunde, on the other hand, expressed his disappointment in the game, saying, “Well, I believe the players tried. The team we played against is no pushover; even the goal that was conceded was a mistake from our goalkeeper, but we will do better in the next match.”
He also expressed his gratitude to the supporters who came out en mass to cheer the team.