MBBS knocked out Microbiology on penalties on Tuesday 17th of October, 2023, after a long and tension-personified game ending in goalless draw.
Due to delays from the previous fixtures slated for Tuesday, the last match of the day, between MBBS and Microbiology, started at exactly 5:33 PM. The round leather spent more time between the legs of MBBS players as they registered quite a number of shots and won set-pieces while at it in the first ten minutes. A goalless game went on, courtesy of beautiful defending from Microbiology players. Despite how well MBBS fans enjoyed the game, they were still not satisfied with the officiating as they felt that the referee made a lot of wrong calls. MBBS dominated so well that Adeoluwa, their goalie, touched the ball for the first time in the 17th minute in the first-half.
The game ended goalless at halftime and both sides made their way to the stands to restructure and get re-energized for the second half of the game. In less than 10 minutes, the second-half was underway and MBBS Coach, Mark Obeya, made his first substitution in the game (Dave came in for Ola). The goal drought went on for another ten minutes and MBBS fans were beginning to get scared of going on to penalties because of the uncertainties, seeing that this is the aim of the opponents. At that time, the coach made a double substitution, Fu’aad and Behemoth for Jide and Seyi. Habeeb got a chance to score and hit the post at a very crucial time and the tension went up to an all-time high. Then, MBBS just wanted a goal and Microbiology wanted a goalless game that advances to penalties.
Teslim came in for Ramoni and in no time, the referee surprisingly blew the full-time whistle. Having chosen to pay less attention to the bad officiating throughout the game, this became the height of it for MBBS as they expressed their displeasure at such a decision. The second-half of the match still had about ten minutes but the referee called for penalties regardless. Mark Obeya addressed his players and picked his takers in preparation for the shootout while the fans were quiet and hopeful for a result in their favour.
MBBS played first and Teslim comfortably put the ball in the back of the net towards the left. Microbiology scored their next to make the count even but tension rose again when MBBS next taker, Karbon, hit the goalpost. The fans got hopeful again after Adeoluwa, the goalie, came through for MBBS by saving the next penalty. Dave and Ayotunde scored the third and fourth penalties and Microbiology scored theirs too. For the last of the first 5 penalties to be taken, Fu’aad walked to the spot, paced backwards a bit, and curled the ball beautifully into the right corner of the net. Adeoluwa walked to the net to recreate the magic for Microbiology’s fifth penalty. The taker tried to remain calm despite the tense atmosphere but miscalculated and played the ball to hit the right goalpost. The pitch got invaded immediately by MBBS fans, screaming and leaping for joy as they had qualified for the quarter finals.
It was a very emotional moment for a lot of people. Everyone crowded Adeoluwa as he stole the moment with that superb penalty save even though he wasn’t tested during the game. MBBS qualified for the quarter finals and they are facing Industrial and Production Engineering (IPE) next on Friday, 20th of October, 2023.
Peter Adeyemo.