Green Rangers FC eked out a 1-0 win over hard fighting Palace FC to book their place in the Quarter finals of the ACADUC 2022 with a Game in hand. The coach Walter led side became the first team to make it past the group stage after recording 100% start to the campaign. In the opening fixtures on Saturday, Green Rangers piped Emelem by a loan goal and repeated the feat against Palace FC to earn maximum 6 points from the first two games.
Rainbow FC played out a 1-1 draw against Emelem in the other Group A Game with the Team’s profilfic Striker Lorenzo scoring in the 25th minute. Coach Matthew side was looking to run away with the maximum points only for Emelem to draw level in the 85th minute. The draw put the Umunede’s side in precarious position with only 1 point from two matches and will need an outright win against Palace FC on thursday while hoping Green Rangers win Rainbow. With Green Rangers already through to the next round, Coach Walter may rest his players ahead of the Quarter final thus giving Rainbow a Life line.
However if the battled for group leaders may throw the game open in group A over in Group C, Star Peak’s win over Uriel Academy by 4-1 has thrown the group open as they moved top of the table albeit with Golden boys and Delta Milan yet to square up. Star Peak overcame their opneing day lose to Golden boys while Uriel Played out a goalless draw with Delta Milan leaving them with just one point with a game to go. A win for Golden boys against Delta Milan will give the Coach Onyeka Alika all 6 points and a berth in the Quarter finals ahead of their final group game against Uriel.
KG Sports Academy Agbor bounced back from the opening fixture draw against Ika Lions to sink Divine FA 3-1 at the Agbor township Stadium. Emmanuel Uwaekezue gave the Coach Adeyinka Ogundeji side a first half lead only for Divine to level scores 3 minutes into the restart. KG took control of the game and pressed forward but Divine held tight as the down pour halted the Pride of a Agbor Smooth play.
Coach Adeyinka made some tactical changes brining on Favour Ngbakor for goal scorer Emmanuel thus switching Skipper Joseph Ukah forward and this opened the game up for the KG boys. With About 10 minutes to go, the Divine FA boys were obviously loosing steam thus providing KG Sports Academy opportunities to penetrate. Inside a space of 3 minutes, Ibrahim Amin and Christian Okoro scored in succession to take the game beyond Divine. The Win for KG Sports Academy took them to 4 points and set up a battle of the titans on friday against Ultimate FA.
The George Uzioma backed Ultimate were forced to a 1-1 draw by hard fighting Ika Lions in the early Group D match played at the Igumbor Otiku Secondary school ground on monday. Ika Lions are 3rd on the table but are favourites to win Divine FA in the final group fixtures thus leaving KG Sports and Ultimate scrambling for the other ticket.
“Today we were able to get a positive result despite having some challenges in our line up following the change of venue and time, I had to reshufle the team and we still went ahead in the first half” Coach Adeyinka Stated ” We conceeded a goal early in the second half due to a defensive error but we fought back to take the lead and made it 3-1 to win all three points” he said
“ Its not over yet because we face a very youthful and tactical team in Ultimate for the final group game and we know we need to win to qualify” with a massive record in the competition and on their home again, my boys will need more than 110% concentration for the 90 minutes of the match on Friday.
“For us, we take each game as it comes and it will be a good thing for everyone and the boys for us to make it to the next round.” he concluded
Over in Group B, Winners FC confirmed their ticket to the next round after they played out a 1-1 draw with Ihuyase later on Wednesday at the Agbor township Stadium while Golden Boys advanced to the next round with a 2-1 win against Delta Milan at Gbenoba Grammar school in Group C tickets with 6 points with a game in hand..