BY SUNDAY AKINTOYE
Having won the the tournament two times consecutively, Funds Football Club on Sunday surrendered the title holders to its opponents, Offortex Football Club on 4-3 penalty shootout after one goal apiece at the regulation time.
The final whick kicked off late at the LG Primary School,Tedi,Ojo Local Government,Lagos saw football fans in the community and its environs came out in large numbers to cheer up the teams.
The pulsating tie began on high expectations as both teams played tactical football throughout the high tension soaked match.
Chibike Nworah quickly got the early goal for Funds boys to send their fans into wild jubilation. The encounter continued as both teams created some scary moments in a kneely contested game.
A superb free kick from was neatly converted by Gibson Ifeanyi of Offortex in 12th minutes to keep his team hope alive.
The second half did not produce any goal but both teams created many scoring chances which could not be converted due to the poor finishing on the part of the two teams.
During the penalty shootout,Offortex boys managed to score four kicks,while Funds boys scored three kicks out of five penalty kicks to end the shootout 4-3 in favour of Offortex FC.
Reacting to the victory, Offortex Coach, Ohasiligwo Onyebuchi said it was a good outing for them boasting that his boys were more focused than their opponents during the shootout. He thanked the organisers for the job well done noted that the Tedi Peace Cup has really United youths together in the community.
While Funds Coach, Hygins Okoye expressed his disappointment with the outcome of the shootout and commended his boys for their brilliant performance during the encounter.
He disclosed that his team have won the title back to back and admonished his players not to be totally sad rather they should see the defeat a wake up call ahead of their subsequent competitions.
Match coordinator, Akachi Eke gave thanks to God for the success of the competition. He explained that despite the challenges facing the organising committee during the tournament,this year’s edition recorded a huge success.
He also thanked his sponsors,partners and participating teams for their support given the tournament in the last three years and rated this year’s edition best ever organised tournament.
One of the sponsors, Lotagod Okafor said he was happy with the standard and officiating of tournament and congratulated the winners for their hard fought victory.
He noted that the competition has promoted unity, love and friendliness among the tribes reside in Tedi community and its environs in the last three years and called on the well meaning Nigerians in the community to channel their resources to grassroots football in Ojo Local Government.
Meanwhile in the third place match played earlier, Young Boys defeated Global Stars 1-0 to emerge as third place winners.
During the cup presentation, Offortex boys went home with a sum of N500, 000 and a giant trophy, while first and second runner up pocketed a sum of N300, 000 and N200, 000 respectively.