Sterling performance not enough as the Lions eventually got tamed by Akure Gunners
The selection
Today’s showdown saw head coach Micheal Olayiwola return to the touchline and the only change made from yesterday’s fixture against Football Connect FC was Aremu Ademola coming into the starting lineup at the expense of Amaechi Sunday.
First half
It was a spirited performance from the boys from start to finish and they could have at least walked away with a draw if they had converted at least one of the few clear cut chances gotten towards the end of the encounter.
The game started slowly as both sides threaded with caution with beautiful interchange of passes to retain possession. The first real threat of the game was in the 27th minute when Otaki Tope had to make a very fantastic reflex save off a deflected strike from Emmanuel.
However the host got the breakthrough in the 33rd minute through Emmanuel James whose effort from the left area was spilled into the net by our GK. We were forced to make a substitution in the 38th minute when midfielder Olayemi Bello took a knock and was unable to shake it off despite pulling the strings brilliantly.
Second half
The State side took the bull by the horn immediately after the restart and could have doubled their lead if not for the heroics of Otaki Tope who had to deny Ejike and Samson in quick successions to make sure the scoreline remain unchanged.
The Lions went on to restore parity in the 51st minute after a brilliant team play saw Dahunsi Tobi’s curler spilled by Mustapha in to the pathway of Chinedu Okorie who calmly tucked the ball into the net. The equalizer however lasted just 4 minutes as the host went on to retake the lead through a header from Olasupo Samson.
The boys were not perturbed and kept on fighting and could have gotten the deserved equalizer through Amaechi Sunday who on two occasions had the chance to bury the game with two one on one chances in the 75th and 85th minute but his efforts were too poor to beat the goalkeeper to allow the NPFL side steal the narrow victory.
What’s next
Training resumes on Saturday as we prepare to take on Akure City FC in yet another local derby friendly next Wednesday.
Wonderxchange FC (3-4–1-2): Tope; Seun, Sunday(Samson 67), Lekan; Omolade(Onome 78), Akpovie, Afolabi, Tobi(Adedayo 78), Olayemi(Melody 38) ,Chinedu, Aremu(Amaechi 67)
Unused Subs: Abednego, Oloore, Emelike, Osasu, Peter, Prince, Joseph, Fisayo, Emeka, Musa, Segun.
Sunshine Stars FC: Oluwaseyi(Mustapha 46); Ebuka(Chilekwu 46), James(Habeeb 46), Ojo(Tony 46 ), Okoko(Ejike 46), Abe, Agogo(Onyeka 46), Nani(Samson 46mins), Jide(Ebonam 46), Emmanuel( Vincent 46)
