Okoye showers praise on resilient Akwa Utd

Ifeanyi Okoye showers praise on Akwa United after Niger Tornadoes defeated them 1-0 on Sunday.

Okoye scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the 29th minute to hand the Ikon Allah the maximum points.

But the midfielder acknowledges that they were ‘lucky to have edged’ the Promise Keepers who took them to the limits in the Matchday 14 encounter.

“We thank God for the win but I must hail Akwa United because they are a good team. They stretched us to the limit, they kept us at alert throughout the entire duration of the match,” Okoye said.

“We were lucky to have edged them but they have a good team. We at Niger Tornadoes are also a very good side too. We have at the start of the season agreed to do that we can to keep an excellent home record and explore points on the road and believe that we are on track as we speak.

“This probably is the toughest home match we have played this season but when the going gets tough, the toughness in us has kept us going.

“Every team needs a bit of luck to survive the battle in every match and for me this is very key. It’s one thing to play so well, create a bag full of clear chances yet fail to score.

“You saw that I scored from the penalty spot in the 24th minute but we were able to keep that till the end of the match. It wasn’t that there were nervy moment from both side, but somehow we still had a firm grip of the match.”

Ambitious Okoye has set a realistic target for himself but he hopes to get more than what he expects from himself.

“I scored the only goal today but being a midfielder I will be delighted if I score five goals before the transfer window opens,” he concluded.