Yobe Desert Rollers men hockey team of Damaturu Thursday trounced their counterparts, South West Hockey Club of Lagos by 3-1 in men’s hockey quarter finals in the ongoing 2023 Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF) Super League.
The match, played at the hockey Astro turf of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, started on Saturday and is expected to end Saturday in Abuja.
It was an exciting game between two teams with great qualities and prospects, and spectators who turned out to watch the encounter were not disappointed as both teams gave a very good account of themselves.
The Yobe Desert Rollers, ahead of the game, were placed third in Pool B and South West hockey club were placed second in Pool A.
The desert rollers have played five matches and won two, drew one and lost two, with seven points so far while the South West club played four matches with two wins, drew one and lost one with seven points.
The Lagos men appeared more determined and relaxed as Dosunmu Azeez, the captain of the team, notched home a beautiful goal from the arc in the 11th minute through a penalty corner.
In the 36th minute, the Yobe players, displaying a high level of play in the match, utilised the lead by Inuwa Umar through a field goal to make it 2-1.
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South West teams struggled to find the net in the 40th minute through Bello Maliq and Bello Musa but failed to utilise the opportunity.
The desert men struck hard to strengthen their lead in the 47th minute with Augustine Okoni to lead 3-1.
South West continued to search for more goals, in spite of how strong they were at the onset.
The looked good in ball possession as they looked for the long balls penalty corner, attempting to pin the opposition but their efforts failed.
In the 54th minute,Yobe Desert Rollers Clinton Nwagbara and Samson Samuel hooked a deep cross to the far post from the field goal where it was driven off as the game ended 3-1.
After the match, Oluyemi Shinabola , The coach of South West Hockey Club, praised his team for a wonderful performance.
He said they did well but unfortunately lost on the stage.
“But we will go back home and rework, rebuild; we will check all our errors. We hope to supersede this stage when we come back in 2024 for the Super League.
In the 2022 league, we came in sixth position,” he said.
Yobe rollers will now take on Police Machine on Friday for their semi final match.
Meanwhile, In the men’s category of the competition, other games played saw Delta Force beat IGP Flickers 2-1 and Police Machine pipped Plateau Tigers 8-0.
The four clubs, Delta Force, Kada Stars, Yobe Desert Rollers and Police Machine reached the last four on Thursday after they triumphed over their opponents in the quarter-finals.
In all, 20 teams are participating in the league, with nine of them in the women’s category.
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