Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) sides, Nasarawa United and Lobi Stars of Makurdi have set up quarter-final duels against amateur division teams, City FC and Like-Minds in the ongoing Unity Pre-season football tournament in Abuja.
The tournament for clubs in the North-Central started on Saturday, October 22 at the Old Parade Ground where last year’s runners-up, Nasarawa United, defeated Mailantarki 2-0 in the opening match.
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Nasarawa United then picked their quarter-final ticket the following day after another hard-fought 2-1 win over Like-Minds FC with Obasi Dennis and Ibe Agu scoring in each half to ensure Hope Naala’s 49th minute equaliser served only consolation purpose.
The ‘Solid Miners’ will trade tackles with City FC in the first quarter-final match slated for today, 2pm at the Area 3 football field.
Meanwhile, another NPFL side, Lobi Stars who were 1-0 winners against City FC on Saturday, subdued hard-fighting IB Dreams 2-1 yesterday to set up today’s second quarter-final clash with Like-Minds.
After a barren first half, Lobi Stars Technical Adviser, Mohammed BabaGanaru, introduced tested strikers, Jerry Alex, Godfrey Utim and Mustapha Jubrin who piled more pressure on the defence of their opponents.
The sustained pressure paid off in the 61st minute when former Kano Pillars man, Jerry Alex, broke the deadlock from close range.
IB Dreams’ search for an equaliser suffered a serious setback as their goalkeeper conceded an own goal in the 70th minute only for Lobi Stars’ young keeper, Joseph Orya to also commit his own blunder in the 76th minute which helped the ‘dreamers’ to reduce the deficit.
In other quarter-final fixtures billed for tomorrow, Mahanaim FC will slug it out with Setraco FC while EFCC battle Family Worship Centre (FWC) in the last match of the round of eight.
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