Bendel Insurance have won the 2014 Edo State FA Cup by defeating defending champions and amateur division one side, Dynamite FC, by a lone goal.

It was a tensed affair in a very balanced game yesterday evening at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City as both sides showed the caution associated with final matches. It took a second half penalty, converted by Charles Omokaro for the veteran Insurance side managed by former Super Eagles coach Augustine Eguavoen to claim victory. The penalty had been awarded when Dynamite’s goalkeeper upended an onrushing Insurance attacker inside his 18-yard box.

Dynamite were enterprising in the midfield, and their striker, Priestley Irogue, who was the highest goal scorer in the competition last year, worked extremely hard to create openings in Insurance half, but it was not to be their day.

One of the talking points of the encounter was the appearance of the Dynamite FC Chairman, Bernard on his team’s bench, rather than in the VIP stands. Bernard, clad in a white lace, pranced around in the dying moments of the game, urging his team on to get an equaliser, but to no avail.

In the same fixture last year, the game was abandoned and later awarded to Dynamite after an Insurance player punched a referee, leaving him unconscious.

•Photo shows Bendel Insurance Manager, Augustine Eguavoen.