Ayakoromo beats Akparemo, Oyagbene to win trophy in friendly match in honour of Ekanpou late mother

Following a friendly match put up by Mr. Ekanpou Eneweridideke to honour his late mother during the funeral rites, the Ayakoromo community players had trashed Oyangbene a 2-1 goal to win the trophy in the friendly match finals.

The friendly match was played between Akparemo, Oyagbene, and Ayakoromo communities in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta state between the eve of the funeral and the day of the burial on 21st January 2023.

The first leg was between the Akparemo and Ayakoromo communities which was played in the Akparemo community on the eve of the burial rites.

In the first half, the Ayakoromo community scored 2 goals to nothing. The Akparemo community had a home-based advantage over the Ayakoromo community but the Ayakoromo players continued to resist the pressure.

The two teams clashed in the second half where Akparemo gave serious pressure on the Ayakoromo team but Ayakoromo players put up a strong defence. The Akparemo players could not break their opponent’s defence to score a goal. The Akparemo team had more chances to win the match but lost due to poor teamwork.

The Ayakoromo team utilized the few chances and score more two goals in the second half, making it to winning the match with 4-0 goals.

The second leg was played between Oyagbene and Ayakoromo communities on Saturday, January 21st which was the day of the funeral rites of the late Mama Timiebi Ekanpou.

In the first half, Ayakoromo again scored a 1-0 goal in the match which was played in the Oyagbene town field, the home of the late Timiebi Ekanpou. In the first half, Ayakoromo community players overcame home-based pressure and scored a goal. While in the second half, the Oyagbene side played with increased efforts and equalized just about 15 minutes into the second half. There were constant changes of players by the Ayakoromo team following the pressure from the home-based players. Several corner kicks were awarded to the Ayakoromo players but they could not utilize them.

The game was very tense, but following the equalisation by the Oyagbene team, the match was predicted to be a draw. But close to the end of the match, the Oyagbene team made a blunder and it created another goal for the Ayakoromo team. At the centre close to the goalpost of Oyagbene players, both players were arguing for the ball, unfortunately, the Oyagbene goalkeeper was standing with divided attention, a shot was kicked and the defender tried to stop it but it roll out of his leg and before the keeper could know and try to turn from his standing position, the ball had freely rolled into the net and the match ended.

Therefore, the Ayakoromo community won the trophy with a 2-1 goal and the match came to an end.