In only their first continental match at the renovated Agege Stadium in Lagos, Mountain of Fire & Miracles (MFM) beat AS Real Bamako of Mali 1-0 in their preliminary round second leg on Wednesday.
Midfielder Akuneto Chijioke scored the solitary goal five minutes to the end of the keenly contested encounter to secure MFM’s passage to the next round 2-1 aggregate, following their first leg 1-1draw at the Stade Modibo Keita in Bamako.
But at the Soccer Temple, as the Agege Stadium is known, there were few chances despite the host's dominance in the first stanza. Okorom Stanley nearly put them in front in the 39th minute but his long range shot from outside the box after receiving a pass from Akuneto Chijioke missed the target. A minute from recess, Ayinde Abiodun saw his lively shot in front of the visitors’ box narrowly off the mark.
However, the introduction of 17-year-old midfielder Abayomi Lawal as a replacement for Ayinde in the 55th minute added bite to MFM’s attacking line as the youngster turned eyes with some superb displays; and he would later deliver a perfect cross for Akuneto to nod in the match winner.
“I want to say a big thanks to our fans and Nigerians at large; this goal means a lot to me and I am very happy because this is my first continental goal and I hope to score more,” a delighted Akuneto said afterwards.
“We knew so many people were expecting great performance from the team and we are going to try our best to get to the group stage first and then see what will happen.”
Similarly, Godwin Enakhena, an official of MFM was equally elated about the club’s historic performance.
“We are happy this was the first continental cup match in Lagos in over a decade and the first CAF Champions League match at the Agege Stadium. This is the fruits of our labour, we started out to give opportunities to youths in other to use their God-given talents to earn a living; MFM FC has brought top flight football to the good people of Lagos and we want to use this opportunity to thank Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode who ensured that the Agege Stadium was upgraded to meet CAF’s requirement.”
Meanwhile, MFM will face MC Alger of Algeria at the next round. The Algerians overcame AS Otoho of Congo 9-2 on aggregate.
Nigeria’s professional league champions, Plateau United also progressed to the next round of the competition, defeating Cameroon’s Eding Sport 0-1 in Yaounde and 0-3 on aggregate.
The Jos-based team will next play Tunisian giants, Etoile du Sahel.
