– Irene Opara, ABH Press
The fourth match of the ABH league has by far been the most dramatic match played in the league. The match which began by 6:00pm started like any other match with the officials O.J and Saheed ready to make the game as fair as possible. But tensions began to rise when Gbolahan from block E tore the net of his opponents with opening goal about 15 minutes into the first half. Shock was written over the faces of the opposing team who apparently were still warming up. But after that goal, block E had no other shots on target and were being pressurized until the last moments of the first half.Block G-left got a quick equalizer from Rildwan 5 minutes into the second half, an eye watering and opening reality for their opponent.
One could taste the bitterness in the air around E block as they sulked by the corner watching the other team rejoice while quenching their pain with the sole thought of scoring one or two extra goals to win the match. Block G-left players were also highly motivated by the hope their first goal brought and couldn’t wait to score another goal. With both teams out to fight to the death for the win, the atmosphere in the mini field of ABH was charged with electrifying emotions, adrenaline and tension.
Raw fervor and passion seeped gradually into the air and soon turned the football pitch into a fighting pit as a simple quarrel between two players from both teams soon turned into a fist fight and before one could say ‘football’, the gentlemen have armed themselves with pipes ready to stain the brown sand that coated the field with hot red blood. Luckily the other teammates dived in to abate their angst and to separate the two fuming brownites. They were punished with red cards and sent out to relax and calm down.
The game continued and started to draw to an end. The survival instincts of the players got sharper as the time ran out and adrenaline masked any feeling of tiredness, fear or pain. A minute to the end of the match, Nurudeen in Block G-left brought tears of joy as well as broke several hearts into fine granules as he scored a dying minute goal. Their supporters ran into the field and danced and jumped with so much joy in their heart because they knew they had won.
A moment of pure football magic.
Block E lost all hope just seeing that ball role into the back of their net. A win by G-left was not very surprising as they had an overall of 7 shots on target while E Block had only 3 shots. All they could do was wait for the final whistle which sounded not up to a minute after the last goal. With the turbulence of emotions that soared throughout this match, a mixture of undiluted pain and joy filled the air at the shrilling sound of the final whistle.
The finale of the competition is set to hold on the Saturday, 27th of April. Buckle up brownites, it’s about to get even more dramatic.