By Daily Sports on April 23, 2019

The two big names of Edo State football, Bendel Insurance and Dynamite Force FC, both secured qualification to the quarter-final of the ongoing Edo State Aiteo FA Cup competition with commanding wins.

On Friday, April 19, Insurance beat Fatal Dragons of Auchi 2-1 at the Uniben Sports Complex with two well-placed strikes from Imade Osarenkhoe late in the first half and early in the second half to break the stubborn resistance of the Dragons who scored a late consolation goal to earn some respectability.

On Monday, April 22, Dynamite Force got their defence of the FA Cup they won last year off in an impressive fashion by winning 2-0 against Benin Warriors FC at the S&T Barracks pitch.

Dynamite piled some early pressure on the young Warriors but found the latter defensively too resolute in the first half. The Warriors strung some good passing moves, especially down the right, but lacked the physical resources to pry open the Dynamite defence.

The deadlock was broken in the second half by Dynamite after a harmless-looking cross was dealt with, with some confusion between the Warriors goalkeeper John and his centre back Bright Osazuwa. The ball dropped from the grip of the goalkeeper and the Dynamite attacker had the simplest of tasks to roll the ball into the gaping net.

A ding dong ensued after the goal as gifted midfielder Jeremiah Salami, defensive midfield kingpin Omeke Chukwuemeka and captain Desmond Oji tried to pull the Warriors level. They, however, found themselves caught by a sucker punch counter attack in the last seconds of added time as they desperately searched for an equaliser. A swift break by Dynamite resulted in a cross down the left and a tap in to secure qualification to the last 8.

Dynamite will play a potentially explosive quarter-final clash against BJ Foundation FC who made easy work of Pearlmag FC in the second round match played on Monday morning. BJ handily won the encounter 5-1. Pearlmag are floated by Super Eagles left back Ederson Echiejile’s elder brother Emmanuel Echiejile, who had been embroiled in a court case with BJ President Douglas Idahosa over ownership of BJ Foundation following the transfer of Isaac Success, the Watford and Nigerian international striker, to then Spanish La Liga club Granada in 2013.

Recently, a federal high court sitting in Benin ruled in favour of Idahosa and he quickly took to social media on Monday afternoon to hail his club’s victory over Pearlmag as another win over the Echiejiles. Such is the level of bad blood between both parties.

There is also an undercurrent of animosity between BJ and Dynamite who have seen their past encounters in the FA Cup en in violence in recent years.

This match-up holds little fear of ending in similar manner at least at the pitch as the scheduled S&T Barracks venue is well manned by men of the Nigerian Army.

Both sides met recently at the Edo Super Cup with Dynamite winning 1-0. But the quarter-final would be more than a rubber stamp match and the two sides are well equipped with good players who can swing victory their way on their day.

2016 Edo State FA Cup champions Ine Stars FC were knocked out 1-0 by a solid Shooting Arrows FC in Monday’s other second round tie. Shooting Arrows got their goal in the second half after a well-worked move was finished off with a clinical strike.

The Arrows are a young side full of energetic runners and used their no-nonsense physical approach to trouble Ine in the first half which they slightly dominated.

The Arrows could have scored a second goal but some fine goalkeeping kept the scoreline down. Ine made some attempts in the late minutes of the game to draw level, but they couldn’t threaten enough as Shooting Arrows held on to a precious win.

Bendel Insurance will take on Shooting Arrows in the quarter finals later this week.

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 23, 2019

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