Medina FC were on Sunday crowned champions of the Serekunda East Qcell-sponsored league tournament for the second time, following a 4-3 post-match penalty shoot-out win over the knockout champions Milan FC. The regulation time ended goalless.
Medina FC are now the second team to have won the Serekunda East league back-to-back after Sunoko FC won it in 1991 and 1992.
Meanwhile, if the league champions Milan FC win the league tournament they will be the third team to do that in the Serekunda East Nawettan following the likes of Ranger FC and United Stars FC, who came all the way from the qualifying round to claim both the league and knockout tournaments in 2005.
This was a Talinding derby as both teams are from Tallinding.
The start of the match was quite cagy and slow as both teams were meticulous in their attacks.
As winners Medina FC home with a giant trophy and a cash prize of D50, 000, while the runners-up Milan FC went home with a cash prize of D35, 000.
Speaking in an interview with reporters after the game, Sanna Darboe, head coach of Medina expressed happiness for defending their league title, noting that defending the title at Serekunda East, being one of the toughest zones in The Gambia, is amazing.
According to him, Tallinding United is the key for this year’s Nawettan because, he said, they fought hard to make sure that they qualified to the first division, adding that, most of the Medina FC players are playing in the Talliding United team.
“When we qualified for the first division, I knew that we would lose a lot of key players. That’s why we trained some young players,” he said.
Ebrahim Kalil Dumbiya, the head coach of Milan congratulated his opponent for the victory and accepted the defeat in good faith saying penalty shoot-out is just luck.
He announced that he has decided to retire as the head coach of Milan FC after winning the knockout trophy.
by Jainaba D. Jatta
