By Rasaq Oboirien
VICTORIOUS Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) FC of Ilorin have qualified for the finals of the Nigeria National League (NNL) Super 4 Tournament after beating Gombe United 4-5 on penalties, reports NaijaSportsXtra.blogspot.com.
Effiom Bassey's last kick dashed the hopes of the Savannah Scorpions players and indeed that of fans in their thousands who had shown the team tremendous support, paying their way in to fill up the Pantami Stadium in Gombe State.
The night game lived up to its hype as both teams despite playing with caution had a few targets at goal. The 0-0 draw could be due to the pressure on the teams by the organizers after it informed all participating teams that a winner must emerge from all matches as the tourney format was a knock-out base as against the top point team method used by Nigeria Premier League (NPL) in the Super 4 in Enugu.
After a goalless first half encounter, both Gombe United and ABS FC should have won the game in the second half.
First it was the Ilorin team, whose striker skied the ball that was going inside an empty net while Uche Yarma's lack of killer instinct in front of goal, saw him stop a cross whom ASB FC defender should have cleared, but as the ball got to an unmarked Uche's path, the attacking midfielder stopped the ball to blast wide his shot rather than play a side volley.
As time ticked to penalties, coach Garba brought in ex-Shooting Stars of Ibadan, goalkeeper, Emmanuel Fabiyi.
The decision provide fruitful to the team as the Benin Republic safe hands stopped two penalties same as ABS FC goalkeeper.
Isaac Giwa who should have won the game for Gombe United with his team's seventh penalty ballooned his strike to the sky thus handing the team from Ilorin the advantage.
A calm Bassey, converted ABS FC last kick after he sent Fabiyi to his left to put the ball at the roof of the right top corner.
The Ayodele Makinwa will battle the winner between Kastina United and Remo Stars in the finals on Thursday.
