February, 22 2022.
'The Solo Boys' were forced to a barren draw by local rivals, Sporting Lagos FC in an entertaining derby clash of the Nigeria National League Matchday 2 fixture decided at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The derby game lived to its pre-match billing as football fans across Lagos State trooped out to see this mouthwatering encounter between two Lagos based teams.
Ottasolo Football Club started the game slowly as Sporting Lagos aims to get their first three points with a dominating start to the game.
Ottasolo goalie, Shodipo Akorede was forced into a brilliant save in the 2nd minute of the game after his defenders were cut sleeping on a loose ball.
After absolving so much pressure earlier, Ottasolo FC made progress with Megba Tomola and Adeniyi Sheriff who had chances to take the lead on two different occasions, but their shots went wide and kept the scoreline even.
With few minutes before halftime, Ottasolo fans thought they have gotten a penalty when Ugonna Samson was tripped in the box but the referee waived play on.
Sporting FC took more initiative in the second period and created their first clear chance in the 64 minutes as Uche Chinoso brought down his marker inside the area but referee said the contact wasn't enough to award a penalty.
Quadri Adewuyi was subbed in with less than 15 minutes of play and dazzled when he came closest to giving Ottasolo the lead but his close range shot was saved by Sporting goalkeeper.
That was the best either team would muster, however, before the final whistle put an end to the proceedings.
In an interview with Oladunni Oyekale, the coach of Ottasolo Football Club reveals the reason for the stalemate and also disclosed the target for the club this season.
"Well, my boys did well as far as I am concern, you know it is a derby and most of the players know each other because they live in the same city.
"But one thing I find good is that the boys are learning, I didn't bring in too many experience players, so with the little time I have spent with them, they are coming up, you could see that we had chances, if we had taken our chances we could have been 3-0 up in the first half. He explained
Oyekale said, he is impressed with the performance of his boys but not 100% satisfied,
"For me, I'm impressed, I just hope they keep it up, and then we go back to the drawing board and try to perfect scoring. I think it is a nice game.
"I won't say I'm 100% satisfied, everybody want to win his home game but this is difficult because it's a local derby.
On what the fans should expect in the game,
"I don't play defensive game anywhere I go to play football, we will play the game tactically to either win or draw and surely not lose. He declared
"Football isn't about depth and balance of a team, you can have a team filled with good players and you won't have result but I believe they are young boys, we will see how to combine their physicality with their technicality in order for us to start scoring. We actually created more chances than Sporting but couldn't convert one, so we will work on scoring goals.
On his target for the season, Oyekale said,
"I have spoken with the Chairman, for a new team in the NNL, stability is the goal, after we can go for the promotion ticket.
Ottasolo Football Club have now secured their first point of the season after playing out a 0-0 draw against their neighbors, Sporting Lagos
'The Solo Boys' will visit Ijebu-Ode to keep a date with Ijebu United in the NNL Match Day three fixture.