Anyone who watched Dreamland Academy defeat Young Abians on the opening day of the Abia State Fifty1 Alliance Football Supalig Five-A-Side tournament would have marked their calendar for this encounter. This is because of the teams in the Supalig; the academy teams have produced the best football, and having the youngest team made expectations even higher for Forster Academy.
True to form, the Umuahia-based Forster Academy wasted little time in pinning Nagotex in their half of the pitch with only a few instances of counterattacks. This formed the pattern for much of the game as Forster tried to break the deadlock as wave after wave of attack was repelled by the Nagotex defense, especially their goalkeeper Chinaka Precious, who made several saves to keep Nagotex in the game. It was not only Chinaka who had a great game. The Forster Academy captain, Godwin, was also in excellent form as he orchestrated several attacks from his midfield position.
Given the immense pressure Forster subjected them to, the number of saves made by their goalkeeper, and so few attacks started by them, there were moments in this game when spectators thought that Nagotex might score an upset victory through a counterattack. But by the end of regulation time, scores were still goalless, and the game went into penalties. Both keepers were in such good form and proved it by saving three penalty kicks each, forcing the shootout into sudden death. After Chukwu Silas of Nagotex had his kick saved by Nmecha Emmanuel, the Forster goalkeeper, Godwin Matthew, the inspiration behind Forster’s performance, needed to beat the magnificent Chinaka Precious in goal for Nagotex for victory. He did this brilliantly with a low angled drive to the right of Chinaka.
All said it was a wonderful game right through to the end, and there was no surprise when Nagotex goalkeeper Chinaka Precious and Godwin Matthew, the Forster captain and attacking midfielder, were jointly awarded the Player of the Week prize for week two.
