Stanley Ugagbe scores eight goals as TNC sinks Adonis & Abbey in friendly match

From Left: Stanley Ugagbe, Isaac Onyekachi, Ukweni Ekpezu, Gabriel Ujah, Gideon Timdul Chalnap, Emmanuel Akaolisa

It was a magnanimous rain of goals on Friday evening at Asokoro Community School, Abuja as The News Chronicle, an online Newspaper based in Abuja put up a sterling performance to defeat Adonis & Abbey Publishers, a London and Abuja based publisher of Professional books and academic journals in a friendly match that ended 11-1.

It would be recalled that Adonis & Abbey won the first leg of the tie by 3-2 in September.

But in yesterday’s return leg, it was The News Chronicle that completely stole the day as they were ruthless and merciless to their rival.

The game started on a high note with AA controlling most of the possession in the early part of the duel.

However, it was TNC’s skipper, Stanley Ugagbe who broke the deadlock following a through ball from his teammate, Gabriel Ujah.

Minutes later, the forward added his second of the night but had to wait for the late moment of the first half to get his hat trick.

With TNC’s 3 goals lead at the interval, the opposition fans had hoped for a quick turnaround in the second half but Stanley punished the lackluster Adonis’ team just 10 seconds into the second half to take his tally of the evening to four goals.

As if he was prepared for a massacre, Stanley added his fifth goal some moments later to further dent the hope of the opposition.

However, Adonis’ skillful midfielder, Gideon Timdul Chalnap gave his side some glimpse of hope by netting a superb goal.

With the match at 5-1, TNC was rewarded with a penalty following Gideon’s handball which was perfectly converted by left winger, Gabriel Ujah.

Stanley added two goals in quick succession to take the tally to 8-1 before Emmanuel Akaolisa got his only goal of the evening.

Not done with his ruthless outing, Stanley added his eight goal of the evening before Gabriel added his second to peg the scores at 11-1.

Nevertheless, some moments of individual brilliance from Adonis’ Ukweni Kanu Ekpezu and Isaac Onyekachi prevented their team from conceding more goals.

In a chat with newsmen after the match, Adonis’ skipper, Ukweni who was full of admiration for the opposition team, said he never envisaged the result. “I am short of words. We didn’t expect this but we will come back stronger. They performed beyond expectations especially Stanley, I never expected him to score eight goals. I congratulate them.”

On his part, Stanley Ugagbe, who scooped Man of the Match, said “It was a great performance and we are happy. They defeated us by 3-2 in September and we had only one mission coming here; to demolish them and I am glad we did. Personally, I had promised to score five goals but I ended up scoring more. We hope to build on this massive victory in our next outing. My teammates were very solid and everyone performed well”.

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