Ini Umotong Makes Winning Debut For Vaxjo

Ini Umotong Makes Winning Debut For Vaxjo

By Editor

Ini Umotong made her debut in style as Vaxjo defeated Portia Boakye and Linda Motlhalo’s Djurgardens 1-0 in a Swedish Damallsvenskan encounter on Sunday.

The Nigeria international joined the Swedish outfit on an 18-month deal after parting ways with English side Brighton & Hove Albion, where she scored 19 goals in 59 games during her three-year spell, in June.

Just three days after arriving in Sweden, the 26-year-old was handed her first appearance as a substitute by manager Magnus Olsson as they eyed the second win of the season at Visma Arena.

The hosts struggled to create chances against their ambitious visitors, who came close five times and got five corners but could not find a net as the former held on to keep the scores goalless at half time.

After the restart, the visitors continued to trouble the hosts’ defenders in search of a goal, forcing Olsson to replace Elin Nilsson with Umotong 12 minutes into the second half of the match.

Despite Boakye almost scoring for Djurgardens in the 59th minute, Vaxjo kept their composure and were gifted a 76th-minute penalty, which Signe Holt Andersen converted to seal the victory.

While debutant Umotong played the final 33 minutes of the contest in Vaxjo’s win, her Ugandan teammate Violah Nambi was an unused substitute.

On the part of Djurgardens, Ghana’s Boakye was in action for 61 minutes of the encounter before being replaced by Simone Edefall, while South Africa’s Motlhalo lasted the duration.

The result means Vaxjo climbed out of relegation places to ninth position on the log, with eight points from eight games, while Djurgardens are seventh with the same number of points.

In their next games, Vaxjo will visit Eskilstuna United, who have Nigeria’s Ngozi Okobi and Halimatu Ayinde on their books, while Djurgardens will welcome Orebro on August 8.

• TodayNG