Head coach of Nigeria’s national women’s Hockey team, Peter Okwudili Menyei says his team will be going for the Gold medal when they face hosts Ghana in the African Games final on Friday, www.aclsports.com reports.
Menyei led his side to a hard fought 1-0 win over Kenya in their second group stage game at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium, Accra Ghana on Wednesday afternoon.
Queen Esther Njoku scored the game’s only goal in the last minute of play when she converted to an empty net after Benedicta Johnson’s impressive run down the right. The win seals a second major continental Hockey final for the ladies in four months under Menyei’s tutelage.
“It was a good game, a hard fought one. Both teams needed to be in the final and we saw Kenya come out to give us the fight that we expected but we knew that all we needed was the patience (and) resilience which saw us through,” Menyei told www.aclsports.com after Wednesday’s game.
Menyei who also led the Nigerian side to the African championship in South Africa last November where his side also defeated Kenya 1-0 in the semi-final thanked the board of the Nigeria Hockey Federation (NHF) for their support to the team.
“Thanks to the (Hockey Federation of Nigeria) Board. We are being supported massively by the board and we’re building a new team. The old legs are gone, we have a younger side and so it’s a build-up process. We don’t just want to get to the finals, we want to rule Africa so it’s a process we hope to achieve,” Okwudili Menyei added.
The Women’s Hockey final match between Ghana and Nigeria will hold on Friday at 10:00am GMT at the same venue in Accra. Ghana defeated Nigeria 1-0 in their group stage meeting but Menyei says his side have learnt from their mistakes and will take a pound of flesh from the Ghanaians.
“Of course, when you fight to run away, you fight to live for another day so we’ve got a bigger fight ahead. Now we know what bits we have to check, we know the corrections that have to be made so God’s willing, we’ll put the dots in the right places and cross the ts and then we’ll have the day. We want the Gold and the Gold we’re going for,” he concluded.
Unlike Menyei’s team, the Men’s Hockey team are out of the running for a final spot and can only fight for the bronze medal dependent on their result in their final group game.
