Manchester City of England dazzler, Phil Foden has been cited as one of the factors behind the shock stumbling block Mavlon FC posed against First Bank FC in Lagos zone one of Nigeria’s Nationwide League One (NLO).
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Against all expectations, Mavlon held their own on in playing The Elephant Boys to a hard-earned goalless draw, thereby seeing them fail to win for only the second time this season.
Victory would have given Coach Gafar Mohammed’s side an unassailable seven points lead ahead of their nearest rivals, Real Sappgire FC, but it was sixth placed Mavlon that slowed them down on Friday.
One of the players who made it happen is left-footed ace, Emmanuel Abah Stephen, and he disclosed after the encounter that he is a huge fan of Foden, whose deft touches and defence piercing runs he always tries to emulate.
Incidentally, Foden is in the hunt for a fourth straight English Premier League title with Man City, which his side will achieve if they win their last three matches of the outgoing season.
On the other hand, his admirer in Lagos is no longer in the race for conquest of the NLO, but Stephen admitted he got a lot of pleasure from playing spoiler to First Bank’s aspirations and praised everyone in Mavlon’s team for making it possible.
Stephen declared: “It was a nice game. A good game made possible through collective effort within the team and some changes from the coaching side. The management also played their own part.
“It was a teamwork and collective effort. We hoped for winning, but we thank God for the draw. Next time, we will play with confidence and do better than this.”
He then spoke about his personal ambitions in the round leather game and disclosed how watching Foden play helps him improve his performance in each match.
“My dream is to play better and, in the future, to be in Europe. I also pray for my club. With hard work from the team, I believe we’ll go far.
“My role model is Phil Foden. I look up to him because, through his game, I see that I have to work hard, in order to reach anywhere high in life with football,” Stephen concluded.
