Dannaz FC Ladies dynamite midfielder, Akintola Olawunmi Daniella has revealed how the Ladies neutralize Edo Queens in Lagos to earn a 1-1 draw on Wednesday against all odds, Sports247 reports.
The Matchday four encounter of the Nigeria Women Football League, NWFL, Premiership played at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos on Wednesday saw Dannaz FC Ladies of Lagos came from a goal down to force a draw against the defending champions.
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The result was against the expectations of many followers of the league, whom have predicted a easy three points for Edo Queens in Lagos but the young and determined Dannaz FC girls resisted all attacks from the defending champions.
Dannaz foiled all Edo Queens offensive moves and finally Neutralise their tactics and settled for a share of the spoils.
Edo Queens FC started the game like a house in fire. They opened scoring in the 18th minute through Goodness Osigwe, after the attacker got to the end of great team work.
In their true element, Edo Queens continue to dominate the home, reducing the game to a single half, with most of the balls being played in the Dannaz half of the pitch.
The Nigeria representative at the 2024 CAF Women Champions League, Edo Queens however failed to make their possessions and incursions into the dangerous areas of the count.
They kept missing chances upon chances and that could end the match in the first half but could hold on to their slim 1-0 lead, hoping to continue their onslaught in the second half.
However, the story of the game changed in the second half, Dannaz FC Ladies who started the game with four defenders became more daring by throwing more girls in the midfied played with only with only three defenders at the back.
The change in approach to the game began to pay off by reducing the dominance of Edo Queens in the midfied. Dannaz FC became more daring going forward.
They fought and resisted all moves from the marauding Queens from Edo, winning all every 50-50 chance and advantage in the fight for the possession of the balls.
Dannaz’s resilience paid off in the 70th minute after Omotoke Ogunfunwa struck in, a a well taken free kick from 20 yards as the stadium erupted in wild jubilation from the Lagos fans at the stadium.
With 20 minutes left to play, the match became more balanced as both teams search for a winner to no avail.
The home teams were proud of their performance and celebrated the 1-1 draw, like a mission accomplished while Edo Queens left the stadium disappointed and rued the plenthoral of opportunities to win the game in the first half.
After the highly entertaining encounter, one of Dannaz FC fighters on the day, Akintola Olawunmi Daniella told our correspondent the secret of their success and how they were able to stop Edo Queens.
Akintola Olawunmi Daniella said after match, “Yeah, it was a tough game but we actually show our determination and our believe in ourselves made the difference”
” We have our chance and we converted it , thats why we are able to get a draw against a very good side, a CAF team”.
She commented on how Edo Queens taunted them before the match, and revealed she was happy that the Queens left disappointed.
” Sure they left here disappointed because they told us they are going to beat us by scoring five or six goals but we are able to show our determination, even though we are smaller but our toughness shows, I am happy ” Akintola told Sports247.
Akintola Olawunmi Daniela said her team still have their eyes on the Super Six, even though they are on four points, on number six position in Group A .
Though Edo Queens remain unbeaten but they have to endure two back to back draws after they won their first two opening matches of the season.
They are on 8 points occupying the third position behind Nasarawa Amazons and Remo Stars who were on 9 and 10 points respectively occupying the second and first position respectively.
The NWFL Premiership continues with Matchday 5 by next week Wednesday as the fight for top 3 positions in group A and Group B continues.
