An 81st-minute goal courtesy of Chijioke Akuneto was all MFM FC needed to qualify for the next stage of African Champions League.
The second leg of the first round of the 2018 CAF Champions League was played on Wednesday at the Agege Stadium.
The Adekoya boys had played a draw with AS Real Bamako in the first leg played in Bamako.
The match which had in attendance the 1st and 2nd vice-presidents of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi and Shehu Dikko, saw both teams playing cautiously but the home side made efforts to score an early goal.
The effort never paid off until nine minutes to the end of the match when Akuneto headed home the only goal of the match to put smiles on the faces of the over 5,000 spectators in the stadium.
Speaking to Tribunesport after the match, MFM coach, Fidelis Ilechukwu, though was happy with the result said they had to work on their attack if they intended to go far in the competition.
“The absence of my two key players affected us today and the fact that we missed so many scoring chances also means that we need to work on our attack against our future matches,” the coach said.
Akuneto, in a chat with Tribunesport, said he dedicated the goal to the memory of his late parents and that he was highly elated to score in the match having realised that it is a long time a continental match was last played in Lagos.
In another match involving Nigeria’s other representatives in the CAF Champions League, Plateau United defeated Eding Sport of Cameroon 1-0 to qualify for the next round on 4-0 aggregate.
The only goal of Wednesday’s match played in Cameroon was scored by Raphael Ayagwa in the early minutes of the second half. The Nigerian league champions had earlier defeated the Cameroonians 3-0 in the first played in Jos.
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