By Abdul Raheem  

Nobody fancies the chances of height challenged players in aerial contests for balls, especially in seeking to score against taller defenders.
But dimunitive Wikki Tourists’ forward, Fuad Ekelojuoti believes heading balls is one of his major strengths despite his short height. He insists that he is not surprised beating opponents to high balls because they obviously under estimate his prowess in the air.
The second half substitute had headed home Wikki Tourists’ second goal against Dakkada FC in their Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Matchday 27 clash at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, beating a taller defender to Emmanuel Charles cross. He quipped that while defenders see his shortness as a weakness, he sees it as an advantage which he has used to the fullest. 
Ridwan Adeshina opened scoring for the Wikki Tourists early in the game lashing home from top of the box few minutes after Abubakar Aliyu had hit the right hand post with goalkeeper Thomas Omokhudu stranded.
Aliyu later scoffed a chance to double the lead cuing wrongly inside the six yard box in front of an open net. Fuad, who replaced Manu Garba, doubled the scores in the 70th minute. 
According to the forward, “I’m not surprised scoring, as we have been practising goal scoring in training and this is one of the type of goals we have been practising. Scoring a header is also not a new thing to me, this happened to be what people see as a deficiency in me because of my height but I see it as an advantage. 
“I’m happy to have scored my second goal of the season for my team and I hope to score many more before the end of the season, perhaps hitting double digit. My staying power in the league has been the grace of God and a bit of hard work because I don’t play with extra training,” the veteran league player said. 
For Dakkada FC coach, Danlami Umar, the loss was not good for his team’s aspiration of beating the drop, but he is hopeful that they will escape relegation and maintain their premier league status next season. 
“We didn’t play up to our expectation, though we didn’t perform so badly. We still have hope that the team will pick up and we would get out of this mess. I don’t think it’s irredeemable, we will work harder to improve. Good result is what we are hoping for in the next match.”  

  Dakkada FC, Fuad Ekelojuoti, Kabiru Dogo, Kaduna State, NPFL, NPFL22, Wikki Tourists