Junior okechukwu's sublime freekick headlines jewel academy's 2 all stalemate with NDDC all stars

 (Matchday Report)

A thrilling encounter involving uyo Ambitious jewel football academy and promising NDDC all stars ended in a 2-2 Share of the spoils at the uyo township mini stadium.

The coach Chinedu obasi okezie led charges came into the contest desperately seeking for a maiden victory in their ongoing  football tour in uyo after previously losing narrowly to highly rated NPFL side akwa united in their opener on Friday and playing out a 2 all draw with blessed stars acdemy on saturday respectively.

But it was the home team that took an early lead in the 4th min, impressive younger midfielder akpan bassey floating a relatively weak freekick from the right flank only for goalkeeper paul francis on goal for jewel academy to mistime an intended save, leaving jewel academy behind with the game's opener.

The ohanze based side responded with a dictated possession as they sought for a first half equaliser, and the breakthrough came for them in the 24th min, central defender jonadab nwakamma left unmarked as a cleared cornerkick fell to his feet, and the defender unleashed a thunderous low effort as parity was restored for jewel academy. The first half eventually came to a climax leaving both teams even.

The second half started expectedly eventful as both teams pedalled early on with goal bound intentions, but it was jewel academy that took the lead in the 56thmin, right back junior okechukwu with a 30-yd sumptuous freekick that left the opposition goalkeeper helpless,a goal collectively described "uncommon"  at the mini stadium by some sections of the fans.

The NDDC all stars pressed on for an equalizer and in the 66th min they were gifted a penalty as second half entrant for jewel academy Emmanuel had a tackle from behind inside the box to bring down an intentional forward for NDDC all stars, first half goalscorer akpan bassey, stepped up to intelligently send goalkeeper paul the wrong way for the equaliser. Spencer had his goal bound effort scuttled late on inside the box, unfortunately appeal for a penalty was greeted with deaf ears by the centre referee much to the displease of coach chinedu and his crew. The referee finally brought the game to a conclusion.

In his post match comment, the seemingly disappointed coach chinedu spoke thus; "we started on a poor note, that's why we fell behind early on, we had some rookies that were jittery, but coming into the second half we redressed the balance, the boys didnt do that bad, we had a penalty that was waved off, but we have to fix our lapses in our subsequent games, certainly we are full of possibilities in our next games".

His counterpart, coach japhet was full of praise to jewel academy, stressing that they were really pushed to the limit by the ohanze based outfit, and he was impressed at their conduct, wishing them the best of results in their subsequent games.

Jewel football academy trade tackle with highly rated NNL outfit Fc One Rocket tomorrow at the mini stadium in their matchday 4, as they seek for redemption in their ongoing season tour in uyo.