Kunle ADELABU
After a grueling and highly intense 90 minutes of play, three time winners of the Bolowotan Memorial Gold Cup, A.A.C.C FC, beat Oga Boyz to face Maktbet FC of Ibeshe in Igbogbo/Bayeku Local Council Development Area, in the final match of the tournament scheduled for April, 2018.
The match, which was played on Sunday, March 18, 2019, was a replay of the semi final match which was inconclusive when it was first played on Saturday, March 10, 2018, at the Police Barracks Playing Ground, due to the inability of both teams to covert several chances created during the regulation time.
In the highly pacy and tension-soaked replay match, A.A.C.C defeated the home team, Oga Boys, 2- 1 to set up a showdown with Makbet FC which had earlier qualified for the final match.
The match, which was witnessed by Mr Kosoko Bashir Adesegun, the immediate past Chairman of the Lagos State Football Referees Council, started by 4pm with Oga Boys dominating the first 15 minutes of play but were unable to convert chances created.
Despite the dominance by the Oga Boys, it was A.A.C.C FC that drew the first blood through their player, Olajide Olanrewaju, in number 14 jersey, who scored in the 15th minute of the first half. That goal, however, further brought the best out of the Oduborisha’s boys as they pressed their opponents for more goals.
Meanwhile, young and talented player of A.A.C.C FC, Ubani Wisdom, took his goal tally to seven, the highest in the tournament, in the 36th minute when he converted a scoring chance to give his team a comfortable lead.
The second half of the match started on a high note with A.A.C.C Boys doing everything possible to increase their goals, while their opponents were equally desperately searching for an early goal to stay in the match but were massively frustrated by A.A.C.C goalkeeper who put up a fantastic display in saving many goal bound shots from Oga Boys.
Oga Boys finally got on the score sheet when their star player, Apanisile, in number 6 jersey, was able to put the ball beyond the reach of the high flying A.A.C.C goalkeeper due to his players’ momentary lost of concentration.
After the goal, the match was temporarily stopped by the Centre Referee, Olayinka Olajide (FIFA) , who was highly professional in officiating the match.
He was, however, challenged by some players of the Oga Boys for stopping the match.
The situation further degenerated as officials and supporters of both teams joined in contesting the temporary stoppage and this further stretched the stoppage period to about 20 minutes before normalcy could be restored for the game to continue.
The attitudes of the players, club officials and supporters almost marred the match which was full of scintillating displays of soccer talents by the two teams.
After the match resumed, Oga Boys put up an offensive display as they tried to add another goal to bring the scoreline to parity while the young A.A.C.C players, who at the time had become apprehensive, put up a strong defensive display to protect their slim lead till the centre referee blew the final whistle.
Others dignitaries that watched the match were Alhaji Kola Akinsola, Mr Toyin Gafar Bolowotan, Chief Isa Orelesi, Alhaji Saheed Ayeni, Mr Tunde Fajebe, Alhaji Lookman Shonibare, several ex-internationals and coaches among others.
