Enugu – Royal Secondary School, Buruku, Benue State, has qualified for the quarter-finals of the 7th All Nigerian Secondary School Football Championship known as NNPC/Shell Cup.

To emerge from Enugu Zone C, they defeated Epie National High School, Kpansia, Bayelsa State 4-0 in a match played on Friday at the Rangers Training Pitch, Enugu.

The Benue team scored two goals from penalties with the first in the 38th minute from Ayem Sesugh after he was pulled down within the penalty area.

Sesugh again scored the second in the 56th minute after Bayelsa’s Friday Orugwu handled the ball.

The Benue boys dominated the match after scoring another two goals from Faith Ukane and Ogbonna Obiahu in the 71st and 74th minutes through deflections and a direct kick from the outside right.

Magashi Tena, Coach of the Benue side, said their victory was through hard work and thanked God for their wonderful performance.

“We had a drawn game against the Edo state team in our previous match. But my pep talk motivated my players to improve on their performance.

“I commend the referee for good officiating,” Tena said.

His Bayelsa counterpart, Accrah Keme, said the first two penalties demoralised his players.

“Today’s match did not favour us. The referee also contributed to our loss because he intimidated my boys after he gave them underserved yellow cards.

“The organisers of the match must look into the issue of officiating,” Keme said.

Benue’s Sesugh commended his coach for the motivating talk that sent his players to go all out and win.

Benue’s Tsume Lubem had received a yellow card in the 10th minute, while Bayelsa’s Timothy Zuoboemi, Orugwu and Michael Elafe received theirs in the 27th, 65th and 69th minutes respectively.

Oludayo Ogunnike, Coordinator, Enugu Zone C, commended the efforts of the teams throughout the championship.

Ogunnike said the organisers should in future go to the schools to verify if the players used were bona fide students that were within the  age bracket for the contest.

He explained that there was need to look into the issue of schools using over-aged players for the championship.

“We have to take this championship very seriously in order to move forward. The officiating was fair. I commend the referees as they have the final say in a match,’’ Ogunnike said.