Fajobi Yetunde’s last minute goal propelled Edo Queens Football Club of Benin-City past tactically disciplined Nasarawa Amazons in a five-goal thriller in the week nine game of the 2023 Nigeria Women Football League, as the second round of the female league resumed across the country.
Yemisi Samuel and Sulehat Aberdeen were also on the score sheet as Edo Queens got off to the perfect start in the second round with a 3-2 win over Nasarawa Amazons in the first home game in Group B of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) abridged league season between Edo Queens FC Wednesday evening at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City.
The last gasp volley sealed victory for the Moses Aduku-led Queens, making them climbed to the top of the table in Group B with 15 points from seven games, two points superior to the second placed Amazons who have 13 points from eight games.
The Obaseki Ladies looked to have thrown victory away with two minutes left when Aweda Titilayo levelled up for the solid miners women.
The game saw a barren first half with little action, but the second half was action packed as five goals were recorded.
Ten minutes after the start of the second half, substitute Samuel Yemisi opened the scoring from a goal mouth scramble after Moses Esther’s initial shot was parried by the Amazons goalie.
It did not take up to two minutes for the visitors to level up from Odubanjo Dominance, who beat Edo Queens’ goalkeeper, Bakare Sukurat, with the ball going past her legs.
In the 61st minute, highly experienced midfielder, Suliat Abideen, threw the stadium into jubilation as her well curled right-footed free kick from 25 yards beat Amazons’ goalkeeper to restore lead for Edo Queens.
The 88th minute saw substitute Aweda Titilayo, pulling an equaliser for Christopher Danjuma’s side to break the heart of Moses Aduku under the floodlights at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin.
The celebration of the dramatic equalizer by the visitors was however shortlived as Edo Queens were fortunate with Fajobi Yetunde’s last gasp effort in the extra time when she reacted quickly to rebound from Suliat Abideen’s free-kick to poke a volley beyond Nasarawa Amazons goalie for the winning goal.
The Fajobi Yetunde’s inspired 3-2 win for Edo Queens on Wednesday evening has pushed Edo Queens to comfortable lead atop Group B.
In an interview with journalist after the game, Christopher Danjuma of Nasarawa Amazons said that the game of football is full of drama. “Well that is the game of football. My girls did their best, took the chances they had and made good use of them but somewhere along the line they lost concentration and Edo Queens were lucky to get that last opportunity and capitalized on it to get the winning goal.
“Edo Queens is not a push over side, we are used to each other. This defeat today is painful, but we are still very much in the title race, we have a game against FC Robo, we have to go back to the drawing board and work hard for our next game.
“There will be no compromise in that game, because you can see that the battle for Super 6 is becoming tougher and we are going to fight hard to be in that competition.” He said.
On his part, Edo Queens head coach, Moses Aduku said:
“We are happy for the result, my girls played well, but at a time they lost concentration. You could see the way I was shouting at them, but all the same we give God the glory for the victory.
“Nasarawa Amazons is not a small team, they are not a team you can just push away like that, they did not come to Benin for tea party, they came for business. So I must commend them for their brilliant performance.
“We are not there yet, we still have some jobs to do. This is the crucial stage of the competition, we all have our eyes on the Super six.
“Next week, we shall be going to Kogi State to take on Confluence Queens, we would begin to prepare now because that is another tough side. At this stage now, no team will make the mistake of underrating another team, so we know we are up for a big task. We believe God for victory in Kogi”.
