The duo of Ebere Christian Osinachi and Ernest Agenor were the heroes for Nigeria’s U-17 team as they shared four goals equally in a 4-0 win against Ebi Global FC in a friendly match played on Saturday at UNICAL’s Abraham Ordia Stadium, Calabar, Cross River State.
Despite the omission of key players, the Golden Eaglets practically dominated the opposition, whose second team incidentally lost 1-2 to the coach Emmanuel Amunele-tutoured side last weekend.
Fleet-footed Osinachi grabbed the first goal in the sixth minute when he side-stepped his marker after collecting a floater from Akpan Etiboy to slot the ball beyond the reach of Global’s goalkeeper Ejukwa Bright.
The goal indeed brightened up the Golden Eaglets with spirited display from the likes of Etiboy, Agenor, and Douglas Uzama amongst others.
Yet it was Osinachi who added the second goal in the 31st minute at the end of a triangular pass with Adewale Adeyinka and Sunday Alimi.
Agenor in the meantime, continued from where Osinachi, who was substituted for Kehinde Ayinde, stopped when he scored the third goal in the 60th minute against the run of play.
Second half substitute, Suleiman Abdullahi, nearly got another goal 15 minutes later but his shot went slightly over the bar after a one-touch exchange with Samuel Chukwueze. But Abdullahi would later compensate for his earlier glaring miss by feeding off Agenor with the pass for the fourth and final goal of the match in the 83rd minute.
“This is a mauling,” confessed coach Baron.
Baron added:”We actually came with the mindset to get at least a draw but you just set us up against your tigers.
“It was a good match for us as we have learnt few more things today but frankly, I’m impressed with the technical and tactical display of the Golden Eaglets,” he added.
Overall, Cross River’s home boy and former Nigeria’s Under-15 attacking midfielder, Etiboy, was adjudged the best player of the day for his Yeoman’s job despite playing at an unfamiliar right-full back position.
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