Ebrima Mbye
Saruja United defeated Dasilameh United 10 goals to 9 on post-penalty shootouts at the famous Brikamaba football field on Saturday to become the champions of this year’s tournament for the second time consecutively.
Ismaila Jawla opened the scoring line in the 15th minute of the match for Dasilameh United with a powerful brace short into the net of Saruja through a well-calculated assist from Lamin Jobe before Saruja leveled the scoring from a directed free-kicked assisted by the captain of Saruja Samba Konateh and scored by Abdoulie Jallow who leveled the scores,
Both teams showed persistence and determination to win the trophy most importantly for Dasilameh this was their first-ever final since 1987 and eventually, they lost to Saruja.
Saruja’s coach Malick Jamal Ceesay congratulated his sides for emerging as the winners for two consecutive years. He said, “I’m not surprised by the incredible performance of my boys because I know they can do well”. He further highlighted that this is the 6th trophy he won with the team and that he thanks God for it. He advised the organizing committee to try and fence the field first before calling for the tournament, stressed.
Dasilameh’s coach Malang Sawaneh acknowledged his boys for their performance. He said “the boys did well but luck was not on our side. We promised to bounce back next season differently, he assured us.
Saruja United went home with the giant trophy with an amount of D20, 000 while runners-up Dasilameh went home with an amount of D15, 000.