It was an exciting weekend of activities in the Nigeria Bankers Games 2016.
The other events of Nigeria Bankers Games 2016 kicked-off on Saturday 29th October 2016 with a massive crowd of athletes competing in Chess, Scrabble, Table Tennis and Tennis in both the male and female category.
While participants battled for honours in Chess, Scrabble and Table Tennis at the DBI indoor Pavilion, Cappa Oshodi; participants in Tennis held sway at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Lagos Island.
The Table Tennis event was once again dominated by the trio of Fredrick Rekuoya of Sterling Bank, Solomon Idowu and Femi Ayeni of First Bank who are through to the semifinals in the singles event. They however had to fight hard to overcome opposition from FCMB, Ecobank and Union Bank. In the female singles category, Fidelity Bank is in complete control as they have 3 athletes in the semifinals including Judith Achonye and Olayemi Okam.
In the Chess and Scrabble event, participants endured rounds after rounds of wits and mental stamina.
The concluding part of these events will take place on Saturday 5th November, 2016.
The last 2 preliminary football matches were played on Sunday 30th October at the Legacy Pitch of the National Stadium and it was filled with suspense and edge of the seat anxiety till the final whistle.
In the first match, 2015 quarter finalists Ecobank needed to win by at least 2 unreplied goals against returning Union Bank. From there 2 previous matches and forms it was expected to be an easy one for Ecobank, at least on paper.
However, the Union Bank lads had other ideas, not only did they give as much as they got, they even created more chances and should have gone ahead in the first half. The pressure to qualify seem to have dampened Ecobank’s otherwise free flowing football. The duo of Captain Bamidele Odunuga and Femi Oyegbola tried to dictate the pace of the game from the middle of the pack and had plenty of possession, but Union Bank defence stood in their way.
The match continued in much the same way in the second half with Ecobank chasing what was fast becoming an elusive opening goal and Union Bank countering all their moves with stoic defending. Then the moment they were all waiting for arrived when a Union Bank defender was adjudged to have handled the ball in the 18 yard box. The resultant penalty was taken by substitute John Mosugu but he hit his effort against the upright with his follow up tap in correctly flagged offside. This seemed to galvanise the Ecobank players as the continued to lay siege on the Union Bank goal, however, Union Bank’s goal keeper and eventual match MVP Awosike Chubueze, stood strong to deny Ecobank time after time. In the end, the goalless draw means that Union Bank leave the football event on a high with one point while Ecobank fail to qualify for the semifinals.
This result means that Sterling Bank have qualified for the semifinals of the football event and will now face 2015 runners up, First Bank.
The second match produced another hock result. Stanbic IBTC Bank faced FCMB. Both teams had lost their first 2 games and were playing for pride.
It was however Stanbic IBTC Bank that seemed to get there scripts right. Mojeeb’s blistering pace was too much to handle for the FCMB defence and in the first few minutes of the first half he scored his side’s second goal of the tournament. He was on hand again to make it 2 when he outran the FCMB defence to slot the ball beyond the reach of the onrushing goalkeeper. There was still time for FCMB to halve the deficit as Nsikat’s through ball found Rokeeb Adedotun for their first goal.
At the resumption of play, Stanbic IBTC continued from where they stopped as Tosin Samuel rifled home a shot from the edge of the penalty box with the FCMB defence static. Then Mojeeb of Stanbic IBTC Bank became the first player to score a hat trick in the 2016 NBG when he scored again in the 35th minutes. FCMB then had an uphill task to get back in the game. They responded in fine fashion when they were awarded a spot-kick after Stanbic Goal tender brought down an FCMB player in his 18 yard, up stepped Nsikat to slot the ball home to make it 4-2.
That was how the game ended as Stanbic IBTC end the football with 3 points while FCMB finish with no points but will take away a lot of positives from the experience as they look to build a team capable of replicating their 2008 exploits when they emerged Champions.
At the end of match day Five, here is how the log table looks;
GROUP A
|
TEAM |
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | POINTS |
|
FIDELITY BANK |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | +8 | 9 |
|
STERLING BANK |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
4 |
| ECOBANK | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -2 | -1 |
2 |
| UNION BANK | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -10 | -10 |
1 |
GROUP B
|
TEAM |
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | POINTS |
|
FIRST BANK |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 9 |
|
UBA |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 |
6 |
| STANBIC IBTC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | -8 | -3 |
3 |
| FCMB | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -8 | -5 |
0 |
Action continues on Saturday and Sunday with Athletics and the conclusion of the other events and the football semifinals.
SemiFinal Fixtures
|
SUN 6th NOVEMBER, 2016 SEMIFINAL LEGACY PITCH, NATIONAL STADIUM, SURULERE. LAGOS. |
|
| 1.50pm – 3.20PM
FIDELITY BANK V UBA |
3.30pm – 5pm FIRST BANK V STERLING BANK |
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