Honey Badgers of Makurdi on Sunday in Abuja defeated the Gallant Queens women football club of Zaria 1-0 in the ongoing  2022 Aiteo Federation Cup women’s competition.

The round of 32 match played at the Area 3 football pitch saw Odinaka Odoh scoring the only goal in the seventh minute.

However, Gallant Queens FC fought back but failed to convert their goalscoring chances.

The win helped the Honey Badgers into the competition’s round of 16.

Speaking after the match, Honey Badgers’ assistant coach, Enrudy Anthony, praised the players for their resilience during the game and playing to instructions.

She added that their players were young and it was their first time playing at the national level, being their first experience in the Federation Cup.

“I am impressed with their performance. We actually came to test ourselves and see how far we can go in the cup competition and also to build up a team against next season. Now we are going to work on the lapses discovered in this game to do better in our next match,” Anthony said.

Gallant Queens assistant coach Monday Mohammed said his team’s performance was credible despite the loss.

“The game was a beautiful one, especially in the second half. We could not get our game going in the first half. The girls were shy while playing in the first half. But in the second half they picked up courage to perform well and they did their best,” he said.

(NAN)