Ark Football Competition: Smartcity defeats Basic FC of Agege in penalty shoot-out

SmartCity football club of Elegushi have been crowned the maiden champions of the  Ark Football Competition after defeating Basic FC 6-5 to lift the trophty.  The competition is named after Honourable Adedamola Richard Kasumu. Scores at full time ended 1-1

The week long event which took place at the RVTC Mini-stadium, Isheri, Ojodu-Berger, Lagos paraded 32 teams from across the state in a knock-out series.

Smartcity FC opened scores 15 minutes into the game through 17 Jersey, Kenneth Zozo who headed the ball into the net from a pullout.

Basic FC piled pressure for the equaliser in the first half which never came, no thanks to the resilient Smart FC defence.

Several substitutions were made in the second half on both sides. Basic FC kept looking for the equaliser which would have paid off in the 75th minute. No 10 Jersey, Michael Jibade dribbled past a Smartcity defender but his effort went wide for a goal kick.

The equaliser finally came in the 88th minute when Basic FC through jersey number 11 fired a shot into the net of Smartcity to send both players and supporters into wide jubilation for some minutes.

The 3^rd match place was won by Atico FC who defeated Starbase FC by a lone goal.

Champions  Smartcity FC went home with a trophy and N250,000.00, while runners-up Basic FC received N150,000.00 and third place winners pocketed N100,000.00.

Sponsor Hon. Adedamola Richard Kasumu told SportingLife.ng that the competition was organised to empower the youths.  “ARK Football Competition was put in place not only to harness the budding talents in Lagos but to also empower the youths which will go a long way in reducing the rate of unemployment and social vices among the youths in the society,” he said.

The competition coincided with the 55th birthday celebration of Kasumu.

Kasumu however promised to make the next edition better with lots of exciting features.