Ahead of the kick-off of the 2018/2019 Nationwide League One (NLO), Akure City FC continued their buid-up with a friendly match against premier league side Sunshine Stars FC at the Ondo State Sports Complex,Akure.
The thrilling encounter ended 2-1 in favour of Sunshine Stars.
With the Nationwide league Campaign set to begin in two weeks, Coach Adebanjo fielded some of his newly recruited players while also banking on the already established players of the team to deliver against a more experienced Sunshine Stars that also paraded most of their fringe players at the start of the match.
Both sides gave good account of themselves right from the blast of the referee’s whistle with the Kaycee Boys taking the game to Sunshine Stars but failing to break the deadlock as the first half ended 0-0.
On resumption in the second-half coach Henry Abiodun ringed the changes for Sunshine Stars as more regular players were brought on to replace the fringe players and it was only a matter of time before Femi Ojo opened scores for the premier league side even as Thompson Ezekiel made it 2-0.
Moments later for Philip James pulled one back for Akure City from the penalty spot after an infringement in the vital area.
Coach Banjo Adepoju of Akure City FC said it was a fair result for his team despite the loss, saying he will correct the lapses noticed during the match before their season opener against Kwara United Feeders Team in Akure.
“As you can see it wasn’t a bad result going by the fact that Sunshine Stars are a more experienced side and they are already deep into the premier league season but we however hope to correct all the lapses noticed here today before we play our first match against Kwara United Feeders,”
While saluting the team’s courage the chairman of Akure City FC, Kingsley Ossai said there was no going back on the team’s major target of qualifying for the Nigeria National League (NNL) division at the end of the season.
” I want to first and foremost salute the courage of the boys in the friendly match against Sunshine Stars while I also want to assure our fans that there is no going back on our target of qualifying to play in the Nigeria National League (NNL)division,” he said.