Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) newcomer Beyond Limits have edged Nasarawa United 4-2 on penalties to emerge as the winner of the 2023/2024 Nigeria National League (NNL).
The highly contested match played at the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium ended 2-2 in regulation time before the penalty shootout.
Farouq Ogundare put the underdogs ahead from the spot in the 28th minute but their joy was short lived as Anas Yusuf restored parity for Nasarawa United in the 32nd minute for the half to end on level terms.
On resumption, Beyond Limits took the lead again when Ayodele Shina scored with a superb strike in the 46th minute.
This time, the lead lasted but when it was ten minutes to regulation time, Peter Eneji drew Nasarawa United level with a brilliant finish.
In the resultant shootout, the academy boys from Ikenne held their nerves to lift the trophy in addition to their promotion ticket.
At the end of proceedings in Enugu, four clubs, namely the two finalists, Nasarawa United, Beyond Limits, El-Kanemi Warriors and Ikorodu City picked the tickets to join the elite division of Nigeria professional football league.
The road to the playoff in the second tier league began with an abridged league format that saw 40 clubs grouped into conference A,B,C,D trading tackles among themselves for twenty weeks before the championship deciding tournament also called Super 8 which began on June 8 in Enugu.
