Lord Honour and Bobbies United both survived in their separate Round 16 clashes in the Bet9ja Royal Cup on Saturday, October 25, 2019 at the Oleh Township Stadium, as the two Warri sides laboured to move to the quarterfinals.
In the first tie of the day, Jeremi United through Odje Possible gave Lord Honour a rude shock when he scored in the 35th minute against the run of play to give his the lead.
Honour were not prepared to finish the first half with a goal deficit, as Ezekiel Oroh equalized for the elite team after some brilliant foot exchanges in the build up to the goal.
Deep into the second half, Ezekiel Oroh provided the winner for Honour when he scored yet again to give his team the lead.
The encounter eventually ended 2 – 1 in favour of Lord Honour, as Jeremi United, conquerors of the defending champions Future Stars in the qualifiers, were sent packing.
There was more in the Offing for the Oleh fans, when Bobbies United and Henfield Academy took to the pitch in the second Round 16 game.
The tie started on a lively note with some occasional end-to-end spectacles, as the two sides tried to size up each other tactically on the pitch.
Henfield Academy, however, drew the first blood when Emeke Azaka brilliantly put his side in the lead with a fine strike after a quarter of an hour on the clock.
But Bobbies were not willing to go down without a fight, as their efforts paid off when substitute Samson Amure scored the equaliser to drag the tie through the rigours of 30 minutes extra time and penalties thereafter.
The hard fighting Henfield Academy subsequently caved in to the heat of the resultant spot kicks, after Bobbies effortlessly dispatched their kicks to win 5 – 3.
With these results, Lord Honour will lock horns with the winners of the Round 16 tie between Ekete United and Mega Stars in the quarterfinals.
While Bobbies United will take on the winners of the Round 16 fixture between FC Galaxy and Young Professionals.
More Round of 16 games will be played on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at the Kwale Township Stadium, with FC Galaxy playing Young Professionals at 12noon and De Unique taking on Golden Friends by 2pm.
Jahrock Ujewe,
Media and Communications Lead,
2019 Bet9ja Royal Cup
