NNL newcomers, Ottasolo FC of Lagos are the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the maiden edition of the Ekofootball NNL Pre-season Tourney after they came from a goal down to defeat Smart City FC 2 – 1 in a fascinating matchday two encounters at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State.
Ridwan Oloyede and Nicholas Jonathan’s second-half strikes were all that Ottasolo needed to secure the maximum three points following a shambolic first-half performance in their second match of the group.
On the back of this important victory, Ottasolo FC maintains the top spot on the Group A table with 6 points, closely followed by G12 who are on 4 points after they defeated Joy Cometh FC 1 – 0 in the 2nd group A-game. Smart City with a point and Joy Cometh with zero-point occupies 3rd and 4th position respectively.
The game started on a bright note as both teams exhibited some flashes of brilliance and created scoring opportunities in the early minutes of the proceedings.
Despite creating a series of Scoring chances, Ottasolo FC attackers were profligate in front of goal as they failed to convert their early chances.
Smart City grew in confidence as the game progressed and took the game to Ottasolo were pegged back in their own half as a result of the consecutive pressure from the Zulu Boys.
Smart City eventually drew the first blood on the 18th minute from the spot-kick after Ottasolo right full-back, Ridwan handled a dangerous cross in his own box and the referee wasted no time to point at the penalty spot to give Smart City the advantage to take the lead.
Ottasolo Poured out in number in search of an equalizer and could have scored at 39th minute when a lofty cross from Ibrahim Matiti fell kindly to the feet of Moshood Adejumo whose close-range effort missed the target by a whisker.
Smart City’s defense proved to be a hard nut to break as they repelled all attacking threats from Ottasolo.
The CR sounded his whistle for half time break as Smart City headed to the tunnel with a goal advantage.
On resumption, both teams introduced fresh legs from the bench to fortify their squad.
Ottasolo dominated and mounted pressure on Smart City in the early minutes of the second half as they continued to search for the equalizer but nothing positive came out of it.
The pressure by Ottasolo would later pay off on 61st minutes when Ridwan Oloyede rose the highest to head into the back of the net a clever cross from Justice Nwogu to restore parity and threw Ottasolo FC bench into wild jubilation.
Coach Oladunni men grew in confidence after the equalizer and continued to pile more pressure on their opponents in search of the winner but Smart City defense stood their ground to contain them.
The introduction of John Peter brought about more bite into the attack of Ottasolo as he won more fouls than any other player on the pitch.
With nine minutes before stoppage time, substitute Nicholas Jonathan poked home from close range after he benefitted from a yeoman effort by Ugo Samson who mesmerized three Smart City defenders before setting him up to grab the winner.
Smart City fought back and could have scored on 87th minutes but all thanks to Ottasolo Centre back, Raheem Baruwa who put his body on the line to block a goal-bound effort from close range as the game ended 2 – 1 in favor of Ottasolo FC
Ottasolo FC will keep a date with G12 Football Academy in a supremacy battle on Sunday in one of the final group A games.
