….With Emmanuel Malachi
Scoring All 2 And Selected With Philip Segun As Star Players.
By: Charles Edet
nationaldetectivemagazine.com.ng
February 12th, 2023 The FCT preseason football competition which commenced on the 27th of January, has ended with Darby FC clinching the preseason tournament trophy by defeating Nurudeen FC by 2:1. Meanwhile, Ejike Ugboaja FC (EUFC) fans and players last week Friday, 12th of February, had course to jubilate as they ended their marches by defeating Sun Sport FC, 2-1. All through the match, EUFC team dominated the march, half field of the Sun Sport FC, who were seen struggling to avert goals as the EUFC boys pressed hard in their goal area. Unfortunately for the Sun boys, were stunned by a grand header from the EUFC central attacker Emmanuel Malachi, which permeated their net. Earlier in the first half, an opportunistic lapse that occurred in the EUFC Defence, saw the Sun Sport FC jersey number 5 ram the first goal against EUFC. However, within minutes of the second half, Emmanuel Malachi, an attacker equalized by bulldozed his way into the Sun Sport FC net.Twenty eight minutes into the second half, Elvis the captain of EUFC, made an aerial cross to Segun, number 11, who beat two others, passed the ball to no. 9 Emmanuel Malachi, who with a thunderous shot that escaped the grip of the Sun Sports goalkeeper for the second goal. At the end of the March, Emmanuel Malachi was certified as the Best Player of the March, like his co-player, Philip Segun who also won the preseason match certification as the best player in EUFC march against NYSC FC on Tuesday, 7th of February, 2023. With the remarkable 2-1 EUFC ended its march in the Preseason Tournament which had 26 teams registered to participate in the tournament organized by FCT Football Association, which held at the FCT FA field at Area 3 Garki, Abuja.Recall that Ejike Ugboaja Football Club, emerged number 3 in group C, to contend with other four teams,which include; Mailantarki Care FC:1-1, NYSC FC: 1:0 , FC International: 1-0 and Sun Sport Academy FC: 2-1. “Ejike Ugboaja FC used the preseason competition, as a practice competition to improve the team’s performance for its future marches”. said Abdullah Bello, the Team manager. Speaking to National Detective Magazine, Mike Okafor, a director of sports for the EUFC , said it was a “strong training experience to keep the teams fit, spot their errors and weaknesses for further improvement”.While Abdullah Bello, added that “the tournament served the purpose of strengthening the players and preparing them for future encounters.“Yes, we performed well and out of the entire participating teams, only our team had two of our players certified as Best Players in two matches” said Abdullah.Also, one of the EUFC team coaches, Mr. Bamidele told our reporter that , “our team has course to Jubilate because we did not concede more than a goal in our four marches with opponents, we drew one, lost one , and defeated in another by scoring two goals. “ our team did not concede multiple goals in the tournament from any team like others, who were scored upto 7 , 5 , 4 and 3 goals respectively in a match. “That established the fact that EUFC is a strong team to contend with anytime, though we did not make the final due to game luck, we were reckoned to be amongst the best team that participated in the tournament “, said Bamidele.