Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt captain, Evelyn Nwabuoku has delared that she and all players in The Garden City club’s squad were happy to again lift this year’s Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) title, after beating Confluence Queens of Lokoja in the Super-4 final, megasportsarena.com reports.
Following their conquest of the league at Agege Stadium, Lagos over the past weekend, the former Super Falcons’ skipper and ace defender admitted everyone at the Port Harcourt-based side was sad when they failed to win the FA Cup, such that lifting the NWFL gong aloft on Sunday was a huge relief to them all.
A crucial last minute save from enterprising national team goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie was crucial for the victory, which presented Rivers Angels the opportunity to put their barren run of silverware to an end, after failing to win the NWFL Super 4 in the last two editions and lost the Cup final to Nasarawa Amazons of Lafia.
Nnadozie put in a woman of the match performance to help her team win the trophy on Sunday, after Rivers Angels made it to the final on the back of a strong performance from the youthful ex-Falconets’ keeper, who produced a fine save late into the second half to keep her side in the tie.
She had earlier been the heroine took in the semi-finals, she saved a spot kick during the victory against Bayelsa Queens of Yenagoa to win 4-2, as the game went straight to penalties’ shootout after 90 minutes, to set her up for more exploits in Sunday’s final.
From the blast of the whistle, The Angels piled pressure on Confluence Queens and their pressure soon paid off, as Enuma Chinaza was penalised for handling the ball in the area, and Cecilia Nku stepped up to convert from the spot to give Rivers Angels a deserved lead in the 3rd minute.
Confluence Queens quickly had to settle into the game as the team from Rivers kept breathing down their necks disrupting them from playing their free flowing football and, though the NWPL Super-4 debutants soon had their own chance, Precious Christopher’s free-kick went for the top corner but the brilliant hands and feet of Nnadozie were once again quick to react.
Few minutes later, Confluence Queens got a penalty for a handball in the box but Christopher’s spot kick hit the upright, and an eventful first half ended in favour of Angels, who did everything to preserve their lead, while the second period saw both teams go at each other fiercely, with Angels looking for the assurance goal while Confluence Queens tried to draw level.
Confluence Queens however almost scored a late equaliser deep into added time but Nnadozie came up with a crucial flying save to tip the ball on to the crossbar and out of play, while the resulting corner kick came to naught as the referee sounded the final whistle and Rivers Angels were crowned NWPL champions once again.
Following victory over debuting Confluence Queens, Nwabuoku expressed her happiness, while also noting that, apart from winning the league trophy, Rivers Angels also got N3m and a tour of Spain to the bargain, which the skipper described as huge rewards for their efforts.
Nwabuoku told aclsports.com: “It feels good to win. That’s the dream of every player; to win and I’m glad we ended it on a very good note after losing out on the AITEO Cup. We knew we had to play because we had lost out and cannot bring the AITEO Cup back. This was the only place to redeem our image, we had to give it our best shot and I’m glad we came out top in the Super 4.”