Edo Queens Football Club of Benin on Wednesday evening extended their lead at the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) summit after a pulsating 3-1 win over Ekiti Queens FC in Match Day four of the Women’s Premier League.
Glory Osaghae made her 3rd appearance for the Ancient City-based ladies as they took on the struggling newcomers. The lanky striker played a key role in her team taking the lead as she got an assist from a teammate wasting no time restoring the balance of power and hitting the ball in the net at the stroke of extra time of the first half. Ekiti Queens goalkeeper Omede Regina, couldn’t save the situation as she watched the ball sail into her net.
Both teams returned into the second half looking more determined. While the Ekiti-based ladies were looking to level up, Esther Moses, of Edo Queens who was always at the heart of the opponent terrorizing the defense and dreaming of a famous victory gave a crafty pass to the front and Glory Osaghae who was at her best got the ball and chip it above the head of Omede Regina, giving Edo Queens an early second half goal putting the score line at 2-0.
The Ekiti ladies continued their push forward, putting Edo Queens under three minutes of pressure which resulted in a loss of concentration on the defense. That little effort made by the visitors gave them their first goal of the premiership as one of their attackers took a surprised shot beating goalkeeper Uzoma Ijeoma, of Edo Queens to it at 79 minutes.
But the Benin-City-based girls returned to the game looking more daring and mounting serious pressure on the visitors losing a lot of scoring chances that if converted would have earned them more goals.
Glory Osaghae, who demonstrated her goal-scoring prowess today made the State and fans proud as she scored a hat-trick third goal for Edo Queens putting Edo Queens top in Group B of the NWFL abridged league.
With 9 points from four matches, Edo Queens will take the battle to Ogun State next week Wednesday where they will lock horns with Remo Stars Ladies in Match Day five of the NWFL premiership.
Despite winning 3-1 Edo Queens head coach Moses Aduku, has said that the weather affected his players but expressed gratitude to God for the victory. He averred that the most important thing is grabbing the three maximum points.
“My girls never underrated their opponent, the weather affected our game. But thank God we picked the required three points. For the next game, we are going back to work, no team is small in football, we are going to our next game with the mindset of winning and we know that we are in for a big fight. We will do our best by His grace,” Moses.
For coach Okunwa Igunbor of Ekiti Queens, she said: “I’m very happy with the brilliant performance of my girls, if you look. critically at my players, you will discover that these are young girls for the future. Losing 3-1 to a team like Edo Queens who are championing is a good result.
“My girls are just barely three months old in the League, we have a lot of work to do no doubt. I feel very happy that we scored our first goal of the premiership in Edo. So we are aware of the task ahead, we will do more work on them. And I believe Ekiti Queens will get there one day.”
