William Troost-Ekong returned to club duties and put up an impressive performance, which saw him nominated for Watford’s Man of the Match award in their 1-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday, Completesports.com reports.
Troost-Ekong, a few days back, had helped Nigeria secure qualification for next year’s AFCON, before returning to help Watford in their quest for promotion back to the Premier League.
And following his superb display for the Hornets against Sheffield, Troost-Ekong was listed alongside Ismaila Sarr and Nathaniel Chalobah for the award which will be decided by fans of the club.
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The Super Eagles star defender saw action for 90 minutes while his Nigerian teammate Isaac Success was replaced on 61 minutes.
And an own goal by Tom Lee gave Watford a 7th minute lead which Troost-Ekong and his teammates held on to for the three points and also clinch a sixth straight win
Friday’s win strengthens Watford’s hold in second place (automatic promotion spot) on 78 points.
By James Agberebi
6 Comments
Troost Ekong has gotten nominated a few times now for this award.For a defender it’s very impressive and his ball playing abilities has improved a lot as we witnessed in the final stages of the Afcon playoffs.
I do want Watford to continue this runs of wins as that will definitely get them a premiership spot as it stands now.I do hope to see him in the premiership against world class strikers,and if he gets this kind of nominations in the premiership that would be amazing recognition and should catapult him to the height the best defenders are placed in world football.From what I saw especially in Benin republic,Troost has improved since joining Watford.His passing long and short has improved as well,his confidence level and flair is on the rise,though many were skeptical about a move to a second division from a tough league like Serie A but that move has proved to be a great one a bargain rather and one to take his football to the summit.
Hehehehe @Greenturf, this is the same Ekong some never-do-wells on this forum told us was a “championship bench warmer” who only gets a place in the SE due to favoritism….LMAO. Hardly will Watford play 4 games without this central defender getting a MOTM nomination. Watford is now in pole position to grab one of the 2 automatic promotion spots to the premiership….9 points clear of the playoffs with 7 games to go. Another 3 to 4 wins and they are home and dry. When the Pozzo family looked through the whole Udinese defence and chose Ekong as the one to redeploy to Watford to help their promotion cause, they indeed weren’t stupid.
They weren’t stupid indeed.That decision generated a storm a huge outcry from super eagles fans,but today we can all see the dividends or gains of that pozzo family’s decision.
I see this trend all the time. Anytime players comeback from super eagles training camp they tend to perform better in their club duties for a couple of weeks. It seems the level in the present super eagles is very high. Watch out for other players this week and see how they will perform.
Getting an invitation to the Super Eagles camp under Rohr is not beans; getting to play at all is even tougher. All you need to do is check out the guys who did not get invites or who were invited but could not make it.
Its no Child’s play. So that kind of competitive environment rubs off on club performances surely.
Can wait to see Ekong in the premiereship. This is one player that is so proud of his nigerian root. You can easily see how so happy he is, everytime he plays for SE. People yet to believe in him, may not have watched the “THE GENTLE GIANT UCHE OKECHUKWU”. EKONG has very similar playing style to Uche; their being extremely careful not to make mistake sometimes decieves as not being confident but yet always very difficult to beat. Pairing him with a risk taking and super confident Balogun, gives us a well balance defence line. This SE team to m,e is very rich in the defence; Awaziem, Ajayi are two other very good options. I had rather stick with them than forever chasing birds in the forest, for those birds might not just be eagles but a keneris.