All Stars FC and Gwandum Academy served up one of the most electrifying matches of this year’s Adamu Yola Gombe South Unity Cup but It was the latter that progressed to the quarter-final on penalties after the regulation time ended 1-1 stalemate.
Gwandum Academy thus pulled off a sensational result to dump out All Stars that came third in the 2020 edition by winning 5-4 on penalty shootout.
All Stars were the obvious favourites ahead of the fixture as they were up against first timer in the competition Gwamdun Academy.
They seized the early initiatives and duly took a deserved lead through Michael Bute who converted through a clinical finish from Hero Yusuf’s excellent pass in the 35th minute.
However, Gwandum Academy were undaunted and were a delight to watch as they began to dictate the pace of the game while All Stars resorted to defending in order to keep their lone goal advantage.
Sensing a golden opportunity to equalise, Gwandum threw in more players forward in search of an equalizer and they were rewarded for their patience when Nafi’u Usman latched unto a through pass to level things up four minutes into the second half.
Temper started to boiled over as both teams played with so much energy and high pressing but failed to convert clear cut chances they created for themselves as the game tethered towards the end.
The game went to penalty shootout shortly after the centre referee blew the final whistle and surprise package, Gwandum Academy managed to advance at the expense of the most successful team in the history of the tournament, All Stars FC 5-4 on penalties.
It is the first time the Kaltungo based side who have won the competition twice would be eliminated before the semi-final stage since its inception in 2016.
