Hot Boys of Mahanaim FC continue to stay hot in the year after another hard fought victory over Assess FA at the FIFA Goal Project inside Package-B of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
Lukman Adigun opened the scoring in the 25th minute of the match and was joined by Nambou Jean Roman-Emerite late in the second half as the Hot Boys claimed victory.
This victory in the first meeting with Assess FA extends their unbeaten run of nine straight matches since August 2024 when they lost to City FC by 3-1.
Coach Saheed Jimoh made whole some changes to the line up that defeated Sarkin Daji a fought night ago, yet, the result is similar, another 2-nil win over Assess FA.
Starting XI
David Adolphus-(Gk),
Ramadan Yusuf (RB),
Hamisu Salisu(LB),
Awala Hamisu(DM)
Nura Yahaya(LCB),
Jesse Mokele(RCB),
Monday Abdul(RW),
Haruna Abdullahi(AM),
Aliyu Imran(ST),
Lukman Adigun(CDM),
Gilbert Michael(LW)
Reserves
Nambou Jean Roman Emerite(ST)
Ikoh Joseph Danjuma(CDM)
Ifechwuku James Chukwuchebe(LW)
Harry Dogmi(RW)
Khilifa Imam(CB)
Emmanuel Elijah(AM)
Samed Adejumo-(DM)
Christopher Edoh(GK)
The match started before 8am, under a cool weather, as the sun was just rising, which set the tone for a good game by both teams.
The Hot Boys created some early chances but couldn't convert, including a 20th minute penalty miss by Haruna Abdullahi, who saw his effort saved by the goalkeeper as his low shot to the bottom right corner was well parried.
The miss gave the boys more impetus to press high and they were rewarded five minutes later when Lukman Adigun reacted quickest to a lose ball after a miss kick by the goalkeeper; following a press from Gilbert which pressured the goalkeeper to kick onto the path of Lukman who wasted no time directing his shot into the back of the net from 25 yards, to give the Hot Boys a deserved lead.
Assess tried to find an equaliser but their effort was in futility as Mahanaim led into halftime.
The second half was more intense, as both teams tried to score. Mahanaim continued to miss chances while Assess also found themselves inches away from scoring on several occasions. The tone of the game at that point made coach Saheed to send on Ikho Danjuma for Awala Hamisu, Ifechukwu James for Gilbert, Emmanuel Elijah for Lukman and Nambou Roman for Monday in other shore up things and find a security goal.
Moments later, the changes paid off as substitute Nambou Roman created a space after beating his marker, before sending a curling shot from outside the box, that beat the goalkeeper, into the back of the net. There was room for two more changes as Samed Adejumo replaced Haruna while Khalifa Imam also replaced Nura Yahaya.
Despite the victory, Coach Saheed Jimoh insist there is still alot of improvements expected from his team.
10th Match Unbeaten
Meanwhile, in another match at the team's temporary home ground at Brown Check School, Chikakore, Kubwa, Harry Dogmi was the match winner as the Hot Boys took on Soccer Stars Football Academy- winning 1-0.
Harry was an unused sub in the match against Assess FA earlier in the day, however, that only fired him up to deliver victory for the team in the evening fixture. The win over Soccer Stars FA thus taking Mahanaim's unbeaten run to 10 straight matches.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.