Gateway United held Ibom Youth football club to a barren draw on matchday 13 of the Nigeria National League on Saturday evening.
The hosts were dominant throughout the encounter, attempting several attempts on goal but Gateway United’s goalkeeper Araromi David put on an impressive performance to deny Ibom Youth any scoring opportunity.
Araromi David’s best moment came in the second half of the encounter when he made an important spot-kick save after Ibom Youth were given a controversial penalty.
His performances in the match were enough to secure a vital away point for the Rock City Boys at the Ikot Ikpene Township Stadium, Akwa Ibom.
The goalie has this to say when speaking to Sports247 Nigeria after the match: “What I noticed about the game is that when we finished the first half of the game yesterday.
“Going into the dressing room, I saw some tout intimidating the referee for not giving them home advantage.
“Immediately after that, I knew the referee is going to be biased in her officiating in the second half. And subsequently, a penalty controversial penalty was awarded.
“The referee would want to favor the home team so she had to give them the penalty because her life is at stake. Immediately he gave them the penalty, I had the confidence that I was going to save it.
“Before the match yesterday, I prepared a lot for the match so I knew I was going to perform well. Immediately the referee gave them a penalty, I called my players and told them to follow up because I knew I was going to save the penalty and with God on my side, I did save it eventually.”
He went further to laud the efforts the Ogun state government has been putting in place to help the team and he also commended the confidence of his teammates noting that with God on their side, the club can gain promotion to the NPFL this season.
“For this season I knew that God is going to be with Gateway United because if you check, we started topping the league from week 4 up till this moment.
I believe we are going to achieve something important, I know with God on our side, we are going to gain promotion this season.
From there we can come into the limelight to start our careers in earnest.
The state government is trying for the team and I can also see the confidence in the players also, they are ready to put in all their efforts for the team.”
Gateway United currently sits top in the Group B1 category of the NNL table with 26 points just a point ahead of the second-placed team, Bendel Insurance.
