Ayingba, Kogi State was brought to life on Saturday after Dekina Warriors, the home team, defeated Bassa FC by two goals to nothing in a keenly contested match.
Goals coming from Emmanuel Anaja and Apeh Onatinga in the second half of the match gave Dekina Warriors the much deserved victory at the Kogi State University Anyigba stadium.
The first half of the games ended 0-0 after Musa Abul the goalkeeper of Bassa FC frustrated the trio, Tahiru Abdulazeez, Apeh Onatinga and Hassan Mustapha.
The ball hit the woodwork on three occasion and Musa denying Tahiru on two occasions.
After the first half, the coach of Dekina Warriors had a pep talk which translated to an offensive attack resulting to Tahiru Abdulazeez winning a penalty in the 58 minutes and converted by Emmanuel Anaja.
In the 67 minutes, Apeh Onatinga charged the defender of Bassa FC to score a solo goal.
Reacting to the match, the sponsor, Sani Idakwo Philip expressed satisfaction over the level of coordination between both teams commending Bassa FC for their spirit of sportsmanship executed.
“I’m impressed with the exhibition here. As you can see for yourself, we’ve been able to keep hundreds of youths away from the street this evening.
“We want to make sure the youths are gainfully employed and it’s only sports that has the criteria. 18 players have been selected and will be on payrolls”, Idakwo said.
Dekina Warriors went home with the sum of N100,000, while the 1st runner up got the sum of N50,000.
The head coach of Nigeria beach soccer team, Ademu Audu was also in attendance.
The former BBC Lions of Gboko and IBL Ilesha player noted that Kogi State can return to its golden era where the state produced players for Nigeria at the age grade level and Super Eagles one of which is the current chairman of Kogi United, Abdul Sule.
