NYSC Sports Festival: Osun edge Kaduna 5-4 on penalties
NAN-S-26
Football
By Victor Okoye
Abuja, March 10, 2017 (NAN) Team Osun on Friday defeated Kaduna 5-4 on penalties in the final of the football event of the 2017 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Sports and Cultural Festival.
The match, played at the Old Parade Ground, Area 10 football pitch, Abuja, got off to an exciting start as Osun created their first real chance just five minutes after the start.
Team captain, John Okoro took a corner kick on the right and his cross found Ariyo Abdullahi in the penalty box, who in turn hit the post with a header from seven yards out.
Team Kaduna’s answer came 10 minutes later when Ayo Bamigbola headed over the bar from close range after managing to squeeze past two defenders.
Team Osun, however, began to take control of the game, creating two great chances just before the half-hour mark.
First, Abdullahi Isah went close with a fine shot from the left side of the box, following a delightful one-two with Tunji Akinyanju and then Abdullahi tried his luck from 15 yards out, but Team Kaduna goalkeeper stood strong to parry his shot.
The second half picked up where the first ended with Abdullahi once again when was released by Isah with a delightful through-ball, but shot just wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The Kaduna team were forced to defend deep in the following minutes, and had Nnamdi Okoro to thank in the 57th minute when the centre-half somehow managed to clear a pass across goal from Akinyanju just ahead of Abdullahi.
Abdullahi missed another glorious chance moments later when he failed to beat Okoro with a low finish from outside the box.
Despite the two teams’ best efforts to find a goal, the scoreline remained goalless.
After a tightly-contested 90 minutes the game had to be decided from the spot, with Team Osun claiming the victory at the end of a pulsating encounter.
Goalkeeper Madaki Jonathan emerged the man-of-the match after he stopped the final spot kick of the match to give his side a hard earned victory.
Ariyo Abdullahi won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award as the striker finished the tournament with seven goals.
Kaduna settled for silver, while Team Kano took bronze in the football event.
NAN reports that results of other events saw Ondo clinch gold in the 100 metres dash (male), while Ogun and Plateau took silver and bronze respectively.
In the female category of the 100 metres dash event, Enugu took gold, while Edo and Niger settled for silver and bronze respectively.
Team Enugu emerged winners in the 200 metres (female) race, while Edo and Lagos finished second and third respectively.
In the 200 metres (male), Ondo took gold, while Ogun and Lagos settled for silver and bronze respectively.
Also, in the Volleyball event, Team Rivers clinched gold, while Kaduna and FCT took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The 4-day Fiesta which kicked off Tuesday on ended on Friday. (NAN)
VO/YAZ
====