By Oluwademilade Ogunleye
The second round of 16 clash between Civil Engineering and Economics was full of drama as Civil Engineering overcame Economics in a dramatic flurry of late goals and penalty shootout. The encounter kicked off at 4:24pm and came into life just in the second minute.
Economics capitalized on an early pressure and a chaotic scramble in Civil Engineering’s penalty box ended in an own goal that gave Economics the early 1-0 lead. Civil Engineering responded immediately with an aggressive press, almost finding the equalizer in the third minute with a shot that rattled the woodwork.
However, a wave of set-piece opportunities followed as Civil Engineering had free kicks and corner kicks in the 11th and 27th minute respectively. Economics defense remained resolute as a goal-line clearance and a fine save from the Economics Goalkeeper kept them in the lead.
Another chance came for Civil Engineering in the 28th minute when the ball found the back of the net, but the effort was ruled out for offside. Just before the halftime whistle, Daniel’s freekick raised the hopes for an equalizer but Economics cleared it out effectively. The first half ended with Economics holding a slim 1-0 advantage.
The second half began with Civil Engineering chasing the game. Despite their renewed intenrz they were met by a composed Economics defense. Excel picked up a yellow card few minutes after resulting in a dangerous freekick for Economics, which was saved.
The breakthrough finally came in the 18th minute of the second half when Daniel slotted home from open play, bringing the score level at 1-1. Civil Engineering rode on this momentum and just give minutes later, Jamiu connected with a FreeKick delivery to send Civil Engineering into the lead.With the clock ticking and time running out, Economics pushed for an equalizer and we’re eventually rewarded at the death.
A last minute corner kick led to a chaos in the box. The Civil Engineering Goalkeeper inadvertently pushed the ball into his own net making it 2-2 and sending the game to a penalty shootout.
For the shootout, both teams converted their three penalties. Civil Engineering went ahead 4-3 when the Civil Engineering Goalkeeper saved Economics’ 4th penalty. Although Civil missed their final kick, Economics failed to capitalize, missing what would have been their decisive penalty.
In a nerve-racking and dramatic round of 16 fixtures, Civil Engineering’s resilience and persistence ultimately paid off as they edged past Economics to advance to the quarter finals.
