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Coach of Oriwu
Senior Secondary School, Ogunsanmi Abolore says Gaskiya Senior College
of Ajegunle, which beat his side 3-2 on Saturday in the final of the
2009/2010 Principals Cup at the Teslim Balogun Balogun Stadium, was the
better the side on the day.

“My team was very
bad in the first half. The Gaskiya team had very tall defenders and I
told my players to play long balls behind the defence but they could
not. You saw the second half, the three goals were too much and we
could not make it all the way back. I have been with the team for eight
months and all the players are in SS3.” A game of two halves Gaskiya
were much the superior side in the first half as the Oriwu boys were
reduced to a bunch of nerves. As early as the second minute when Aliu
Jamiu rattled the cross bar from a free-kick from 30 metres. A mistake
by Chibuzor Orji let in Sikiru Yusuf and he scored with an assured
touch.

All play was concentrated in the Oriwu half. The pressure
continued until the 28th minute when from a corner kick from the right,
Tope Komolafe made a sweet connection with his head to give Gaskiya a
deserved second goal. Oriwu were rocking and the pressure did not
relent. In the best move of the half, Ibrahim Fatai picked the ball on
the halfway danced around his marker, passed to Ajao Sikiru, who are
cut in to the box and laid the ball on a plate for rampaging Ibrahim
Yusuf to blast home the third goal and his second goal of the game.

Rampaging Thomas

The second half
started the way that the first half ended with Fatai again bursting
into the box but he fired his shot marginally wide. From then on, it
was a different game. The midfield creator for Oriwu, Kayode Thomas,
who had been a revelation in their march to the finals, woke up and
started pulling the strings.

In the 12th minute of the second stanza,
Thomas split the defence with a slide rule pass to release Samson
Anyanwu who made no mistake in poking home. At this stage, the next
goal was going to be very important. That goal came with 16 minutes to
go and proved the best Oriwu could do.