Crown FC of Ogbomoso were in superlative form as they beat Gateway FC 2-1 at the Governor Dapo Abiodun Pre-season tournament. It was fine performance by Crown FC at the Main Bowl of the Dapo Dina International Stadium in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State as the Ajilete Warriors side made a bold statement.
The entertaining game saw both sides display good football artistry and maturity to the satisfaction of the fans and stakeholders present.
The Ajilete Warriors had a compact midfield with Muazu Taiwo distributing accurate long passes to Sunday Odudu and Olaitan Fabode at the flanks.
The combinations of Moses Mustapha, Usman Usein and Kayode Thompson mounted pressure on the Busari led side but all efforts to put the ball at the back of the net was fruitless until in the 30th minute when Sunday Odudu beautifully got a well tailored pass from Moses Mustapha in the box, dragged the ball and let a missile of a shot fly to put the Soun Boys on the lead.
The first half ended 1-0 in favour of the Soun Boys.
In the second half, Gateway United players showed much composure and were full of energy with Oranmiyan James and Nicholas Egrigba firing from all angles
The quest to level up by the Dapo Abiodun lads paid off in the 50th minute when Tubor Karimo nodded home a brilliant lob from Olaogun Sodiq to draw his side level.
The tempo of the game changed as both sides played more zealously and tactically until a pass from Aleem Adebayo to Muazu Taiwo who in turn passed it to Kayode Thompson whose shot was punched down by Adamu Azeez in goal for Gateway United FC, it turned to goal mouth scramble but the well positioned Sunday Odudu fired the ball into the net for the Ajilete Warriors in the 60th minute to double the lead; the last goal in the match.
Reacting to the victory, Oladunni Oyekale, coach of Crown FC said: “We thank God for the victory. I’m impressed with the team performance, though much needs to be done to put our house in order ahead of the NNL season, major reason why we are here for the tournament. The team is progressing and I’m glad.”
Crown FC tops the Group B log table with 4 points from two games and will face Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan in their last group game on Thursday 27th September, 2019 by 10 am at the Pitch A Ground of the Otunba Dapo Dina International Stadium, Ijebu Ode in Ogun State.