By Adeyemi Jerry.
In the most hyped game in the freshers inter hall competition, Zik hall defeated her “noisy neighbors” Indy hall in a hard-fought 1-0 win at the SUB pitch, on Friday September 8, 2023, to qualify for the final round of the competition.
The match kick-off started at exactly 3:43 p.m, instead of 3pm as stipulated. The pitch was encircled by a red ribbon in order to keep the fans from entering the field.The two teams use the same formation which was 4-3-3.
The atmosphere at the Sub was incredible before the match even begun between these two giants, as both sides were looking to win, but only one side would come out of the sub pitch victorious.
Early in the first half, the katangite dominated the game but the Baluba lions were able to absorb the threat posed by the katangite.
Throughout the rest of the first half, both sides had their chances, but neither side was able to get past the opposing keeper and at the half, the game was scoreless, which was surprising due to the offensive qualities of both sides.
Early on in the second half, The central defender for Zik hall made a horrific pass to the katangite striker that led to a one on one with the keeper, but he was not able to score.
Tobi was able to capitalize on a pass from his teammate by volleying it to the far post past indy keeper giving Zikhall a 1-0 lead.
However, shortly after the goal, The atmosphere became intense as the Zik hall supporters were chanting bantering songs towards the katangite.
A player from the katangite was given a straight red card for trying to slap the lines man and also a violent kantangite fan was furious at the lines man. The katangite coach substituted two players and brought in fresh leg into the pitch but to no avail there could not make any impact.
And even after the addition of the players, indy were still unable to get anything done against the Zik’s defense, which was rock solid all day long.
In a short interview carried out with Tobi, the goal scorer, He started that “You know that is how football is, we play to win, we came with a positive mindset to win we were not ready to joke, but give our best, we did it and God helped us”. He further said that “we really struggle against Tedder hall and it always happen in football. You lose to learn but you don’t allow it to happen again”.
With this win, Zik hall will take on the winners of the second semifinals tie Tedder who defeated Kuti 5-4 on penalties after a goalless draw in regulation time.
It must be noted that Zikhall qualified as best losers from the previous round of the competition, losing 5-4 on penalties after a one all draw in a controversial encounter against Tedder hall that spanned over two days. with Tedder win over Kuti hall setting up a nice rematch between the two, with a chance for Zikhall to exact revenge for their defeat in the previous round.
