Wasiu Alalade’s 47th minute strike was enough for Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC, to dump out Unicem Rovers of Calabar from the Aiteo Cup on Wednesday.
The hosts showed more intent in the early stages of the game but many of their attacking threats met resilient duo of Chinedu Ajanah and Ernest Governor in the heart of the ABS defense.
Adeshina Gata was again the most dangerous player on the pitch troubling the hosts’ defense every time the Saraki Boys move forward.
Franklin Anthony kept ABS in the game when he raced from the right back to make a vital interception to deny the hosts a goal in the 9th minute after they had beaten the Saraki Boys defenders.
There was not real threat from both ends as the two goalkeepers were called to action frequently in the first half.
Ajanah collided with Franklin Anthony in the 43rd minute and was withdrawn from the game due to a deep cut to his head from the collision with Ibrahim Ahmed replacing him in the process.
Alalade broke the deadlock two minutes into the restart when he connected Gata’s beautiful footwork to score the lone goal of the game.
Gata had dribbled through the flank to find his way to the opposition’s box before locating an unmarked Alalade who stylishly place the ball under the goalkeeper’s body to find the back of the net.
Gata and Alalade are the Saraki Boys Aiteo Cup leading scorers with three and two goals respectively.
Gata got an hat-trick against Adamawa United Feeders in a 6-3 in Ilorin in the round of 32 while Alalade scored the winning goal against Enyimba in the first round before his lone goal against Unicem Rovers on Wednesday.
RESULTS
Men’s Aiteo Cup Round of 16 Results
FC Abuja 0-0 Tornadoes
Akwa Starlets 1-2 Plateau Utd
Ngwa FC 1-3 Sunshine
Osun Utd 2-1 El Kanemi
Unicem Rovers 0-1 ABS FC
Akwa Utd 5-1 3SC
Ekiti Utd 1-1 Katsina Utd Feeders
IfeanyiUbah 3-1 Heartland
UEFA Champions League
Feyenoord 0 – 4 Man City
Liverpool 2 – 2 Sevilla
Porto 1 – 3 Besiktas
Real Madrid 3 – 0 APOEL
Leipzig 1 – 1 Monaco
Maribor 1 – 1 Spartak Moskva
Shakhtar 2 – 1 Napoli
Tottenham 3 – 1 Dortmund
Olympiakos 2 – 3 Sporting CP
Bayern 3 – 0 Anderlecht
Chelsea 6 – 0 Qarabag
Benfica 1 – 2 CSKA
Man Utd 3 – 0 Basel
Roma 0 – 0 Atlético
Barcelona 3 – 0 Juventus
Celtic 0 – 5 PSG
