Goalkeeper Mustapha Lawal was the hero as Shooting Stars Sports Club, 3SC, clinched a 4-2 penalty shootout victory to regain the Oyo State title in the 2025 President Federation Cup competition.
Lawal saved two of the four penalty kicks he faced to help his team beat 2024/2025 Nigeria National League, NNL, side Crown Football Club of Ogbomoso after a goalless draw.
9News Nigeria reports that the goalkeeper has also been outstanding in the ongoing 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, when it comes to penalty kicks.
He was quickly brought into the game in second half added time by his team’s technical crew to face the penalty kicks, replacing Chinedu Anozie who was also outstanding.
Lawal, who had had a relatively short time to get warmed up, stopped Crown FC’s third and fourth kicks after he missed saving their first two kicks.
With Mustapha Adams, Ikouwem Utim and Ayodeji Bamidele having scored their kicks to give 3SC a 3-2 lead, Gbolagade Adelowo only needed to score to end the game.
His kick and subsequent goal rendered each team’s final and fifth kicks needless.
Meanwhile, Crown FC had given all they had to the game played at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, even as both sides exhibited a commendable measure of grit.
Goalkeeper Joshua Oladeji’s good reflexes helped him to produce many remarkable saves from close-range shots from the Oluyole Warriors who were playing their fourth game in five days.
3SC had battled to a 2-2 draw with Lobi Stars on Wednesday in an NPFL Match Day 25 fixture, before 1-0 and 4-1 wins on Friday and Saturday respectively.
These wins were over Oye Olohun FC and Ilaji FC in the Cup quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively, even as they will be heading to Aba on Monday for another NPFL fixture.
Commenting on the game, 3SC’s Assistant Coach, Abimbola Lawal, said most of their players in the final match had suffered fatigue.
“This is because they have been playing matches in the last three or four days, and this contributed to their average performance in the final. “However, the coaching crew has started an early preparation of the players who will play in the national President Federation Cup competition.
“So, I can assure our fans that we will work hard to surpass our performance in the last edition of the national competition,” he said.
