Sports

Imo FA Cup: Sweet breeze (Ikukuoma) blow Heartland away

Ikukuoma football club of Mbaise has knocked out Heartland football club of Owerri on penalties after a 2-2 full time stalemate in the semi finals of the Imo FA cup yesterday Tuesday 26th of March at the old township stadium Owerri, the statesman newspaper can exclusively report.

The Mbaise blues drew first blood in the 9th minutes through Martins Nkwo’s spot kick to give Ikukuoma the lead after refree signaled a penalty kick for an infringement in the box.

The Naze Millionaire’s new sensation Ikechukwu Mgbemena found the leveler in the 34th minutes with brilliant long range shot from outside the box to keep the score at 1-1.

Ikukuoma dead ball specialist Okeke Chinaza came to the party on the day as he restored the lead again through close range free kick that beat Godwin paul of Heartland to end the first half on a winning note for the Mbaise side.

The second half saw less action and more drama as Heartland’s lanky and bullish striker, Onyedikachi Okafor received his matching orders from the center referee for retaliation and offensive behavior on the pitch therebye reducing Heartland to 10 men.

The reduction in numerical figures had no effect on the desperation of the premier league side to find a leveler as Heartland’s persistency paid off in the dying minutes of the game.

The Naze Millionaires finally found the leveler again at stoppage time as Timothy Afolabi lobbed the ball beyond the keepers reach after gliding past the defender to deny the Mbaise side a full time win and extend the games to penalty shootout.

Straight to penalties and it ended 3-2 on penalties as Ikechukwu Mgbemena and Heartland Captain Nnaemeka Anyanwu failed to convert from the spot to help the Mbaise blues make history as the first team to displace Heartland football club from representing the state at the national level.

In an exclusive interview with the Statesman Newspaper sports desk correspondents, Ikukuoma team manager said;

“Truely i am speechless and i want to appreciate God for this beautiful opportunity. Special thanks also goes to our club president, High Chief Dr Summers Nwokie (Ikukuoma Mbaise) who has ensured that the boys are well motivated and you can see for yourself how it has helped team get to this stage.

The President Dr Summers is a disciplinarian, the DG is a disciplinarian and of course i have always been a man of discipline even as a player. So we make sure we infuse discipline in the team. Reasons why my team will not react negatively to the fracas that ensued here.

We do our reaction on the pitch with the ball and on the final day, i assure you that Ikukuoma FC will be standing before the trophy as Imo FA champions” Dike concluded.

Ikukuoma FC will be take on Fr Eburuajah FC in the finals of the Imo FA cup in few days time.

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