NAN-S-2
Quarter-finals
By Christian Ogbonna
Yenagoa, Dec. 19, 2017 (NAN) The Federated Correspondents Chapel (FCC) on Tuesday in Yenagoa defeated BAFENPA 2–1 on penalty kicks to qualify for the quarter-finals of the maiden Clinton Thompson Bayelsa SWAN Cup five-a-side football competition.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the competition is being organised by the Bayelsa chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN).
Alambo Datonye of FCC was the hero of the day with two penalty kick saves and one goal to beat BAFENPA Boys in the penalty shootout of the game.
Datonye came on as a substitute goalkeeper to salvage the win for the FCC, who forced their opponents to a thrilling 4-4 draw in regulation time.
Speaking with NAN after the match, Kola Oredipo, captain of FCC team, said the game was a tough one.
He however added that he was grateful to God that his team won.
“The young BAFENPA Boys underrated us and paid dearly for it. We played well, and I am happy that we won and most fans supported us.
“It was clinical finishing from my team mates. Hopefully, we will make sure we improve in the next game.
“Thank God, we made it to the quarter-finals stage of the competition and we are poised and motivated to win our next matches,” Oredipo said.
On his part, the captain of BAFENPA, Green Okemsinachi, commended Bayelsa SWAN for organising the competition, describing their game with FCC as fun.
“Yes, I believe the game was fun. We played it like brothers. In all, I commend them (FCC) on winning the game,” he said.
NAN reports that other media houses which qualified for the quarter-finals are TV Continental (TVC), the New Waves Newspaper, Creek FM, Silverbird Group, NTA, Royal FM and Niger-Delta TV.
NAN reports also that following the conclusion of the preliminary round, the competition has now entered the quarter-finals stage from Tuesday.
The quarter-finals pairings has TVC vs Creek FM, Silverbird vs NTA, Royal FM vs NDTV, FCC vs New Waves.
The competition is in honour of the late Clinton Thompson, a veteran reporter and pioneer SWAN Vice-President, South-South, who died earlier this year.(NAN)
OOC/AOM/OLAL
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(Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed and Olawale Alabi)