By S. Siapha Mulbah
Determine Girls Football Club shocked Shaita Angels in what many sports followers described as a fight for survival, when the girls with a determined spirit overturned Shaita Angels’ early lead in the dying minutes to win the first leg of the Orange Cup women match played on Tuesday at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia.
In a mouth-watering fixture at the examination hall of Liberian football, Shaita Angels took five minutes to convert a penalty into a 1-0 first half win against their major contenders in all football competitions currently taking place in the country.
The 2022-2023 women’s league’s most valuable player, Miatta Morris, stood for Shaita Angels penalty when Determine Girls defender, Ruggy Joof, forcefully brought down Cynthia Weah, who was on the first counter attack in the game.
The Angels maintained their lead from the early start of the game and went to the half time break with victory.
A further defensive attempt was initiated to the game by the Careysburg-based team to collect their first win of the season against the champions, but it became impossible in the 75th minutes.
Magrette Stewart took goalkeeper Alberha Pratt by a surprise when she took a long range shot from several meters away from the 18-yard box, to find the equalizer that settled the pressure that was introduced to the game after the half time break.
In the 80th minute, Elizabeth Tamba came through with a stunning celebration after scoring the winning goal of the match to set the score line at 2-1 for the women league champions.
Determine Girls Football Club president, Grace Weah, alias Master Queen, said in a post-match conversation with Intel Sports Television that based on the maturity of players at her club, it appears to impossible to see any women league side getting a trophy at their expense.
She said the players at Determine Girls are prepared to retain the Orange Cup as part of their effort to expand their year of dominance on the upper stage of Liberian football.
According to her, their opponents in the first leg of the competition, Shaita Angels, are a team of footballing prospects in the country, looking at the number of future stars currently appearing in their league matches, but now is the time for only one champion, which is her club.
“What we do at Determine Girls is that we play mature football. The girls go to a game with determined minds and communicate well. So, when we are down, we do not worry because we know that just a word in the dressing room changes the result to give the team what it wants,” she added.
For her part, Benita Urey, the president of Shaita Angels Football Association, disclosed that every game has its own spirit and momentum that the players will have to play with, as in the case of her team.
She applauded her girls, despite their defeat, citing that the team has listened to its technicians’ instructions, which is making them to improve on a daily basis to keep the Liberian Women’s league competitive since they got involved.
“We played the game despite everything that happened, but it was just unfortunate that we did not get a win. Again, that’s football, and I’m grateful to my girls for learning overtime to engage every game along the way,” Benita Urey said.
