Bayelsa United Football Club have emerged champions of the maiden edition of the Governor Douye Diri Pre-Season Football Tournament.
To emerge as winners, the Yenagoa-based Bayelsa United defeated Bendel Insurance of Benin by 7-6 on penalties after the game was stalemated 1-1 after regulation time.
The final match decided at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital started on a cautious note with both defending stoutly and making occasional forays into their opponents territory.
It was however the Ladan Bosso-tutored "Prosperity Boys" that took the lead in the 28th minute of play when Saro Loveday sporting jersey No. 4 positioned himself brilliantly to nod home a well-taken cross by Samuel Okon. The goal sent the Samson Siasia Stadium into wild jubilation.
The ovation that greeted the goal had hardly died down when hard-fighting Bendel Insurance cancelled the home team's lead through Meyiwa Oritseweyinmi. The enterprising Oritseweyinmi waltzed his way through the danger area of Bayelsa United before neatly tucking the ball into the net. Thereafter it became a ding dong affair with both sides unable to register any further goals. The score line remained that way until the break.
The situation remained the same all through the second half until it was clear the encounter was going to be decided via penalty kicks. In the ensuing spot kicks, Bayelsa United scored seven of its eight kicks while Bendel Insurance blew two of their kicks to leave the score at 7-6.
By and large it was an interesting encounter that gave the fans so much to cheer about.
Earlier, Abia Warriors had defeated Kwara United by 4-2 via penalties to clinch the third position of the week-long soccer fiesta. The match had ended in a barren draw at the end of regulation time. Kwara United players wasted two of their kicks while Abia Warriors scored all four of their spot kicks.
While declaring the tournament closed, the state governor, Senator Douye Diri said "We will continue to promote and develop sports in the state. Some persons have criticised the government for committing so much funds into sports development but said they are not bothered about such criticisms because the alternative to meaningfully engaging the youths is crime, drugs and cultism. He remarked that the state government is adopting a two-pronged approach of sports and education to keep the youths of the state meaningfully engaged.
According to Governor Diri, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, "So many Nigerian youths have made it through sports and that is our target. It is deliberate that today, Bayelsa is the Mecca of sports of this country and we are proud about it".
Continuing, he said "Because of the huge success of this pre-season experiment, we are exploring the possibility of introducing the female version so that Bayelsa Queens players can also have the benefit of proper preparations before future Nigerian Women's Football League (NWFL) seasons".
He congratulated all the participating teams, stressing that to the extent that the purpose of fine-tuning the players was achieved, everybody was a winner. He particularly congratulated Bendel Insurance coach, Monday Odigie for putting up a good fight.
While lauding the organisers for a well-organised tournament, Senator Ewhrudjakpo assured the football family in Bayelsa State that government will sustain the pre-season tournament by making it an annual event.
In his remarks, chairman of the central organising committee (COC), Ono Akpe said apart from preparing the home team, Bayelsa United for the oncoming season, the pre-season tournament has exposed some young Bayelsa talents to National Professional Football League (NPFL) teams, adding that out of five players scouted from the Governor Diri Football Tournament, three would be jetting out to Turkey fto ply their trade while the other two would be going over to Finland to play professional football.
Second runners-up, Abia Warriors received the sum of N500,000 for their effort, second placed Bendel Insurance received one million Naira while the eventual winners, Bayelsa United smiled to the bank with the sum of one million, five hundred Naira.
