Smart City’s Grit Shows — Ajedokun Hails Unity After Draw at Beyond Limits

Smart City FC captain Tunde Ajedokun has praised his side’s cohesion and collective resolve after the Lagos-based club secured a gritty away draw against Beyond Limits FC in Ikenne. The result, he says, reflects the team’s growing unity and fighting spirit.

Ajedokun, marshaling the defence, delivered a commanding performance instrumental in keeping one of the Nigeria National League’s (NNL) most organised sides at bay.  While Smart City had travelled in hopes of the full three points, the skipper described the draw as a “well-deserved and strategic point,” earned through character, teamwork and sacrifice.

Special praise was reserved for the technical staff: according to Ajedokun, the game plan was executed with precision, even under the pressure of playing away from home.

For a club once marred by controversy and sanctions, this draw and the praise from their captain marks another step in rebuilding a reputation for resilience and ambition.

Editorial

There is a peculiar dignity in a draw earned under pressure  a quiet satisfaction that comes not from domination, but from survival, discipline, and shared resolve. Smart City’s point at Beyond Limits is one such moment not glamorous, perhaps, but emblematic of a team learning to value solidity over spectacle, unity over urgency.

Tunde Ajedokun’s words about character and sacrifice bite deeper than post-match cliché. They hint at a club reclaiming its identity. Once penalised harshly for misconduct and seen as a cautionary tale, Smart City now seem intent on re-engineering that narrative. The clean-sheet-worthy defensive display, the willingness to grind out a result away from home  those are the building blocks of respect.

It is easy in Nigerian lower-league football to cycle between high drama and harsh decline wins, bans, chaos, reform repeat. But what Smart City display here is something rarer: consistency in attitude. They didn’t triumph in style they survived with pride. That, arguably, matters more in a slog like the NNL.

Of course, a draw is still a draw. It does not win glory, or promotion, or headlines. Yet for a club in transition, it can win belief — among players, coaches, and fans. In many ways, this might be the more important victory a restoration of identity, a signal that Smart City believe again in what football should be: unity, discipline, and shared ambition.

If they carry this spirit forward if they defend as a unit, fight for each other, and uphold that collective resolve then results may follow. And in the long, grinding march of league seasons, that might end up meaning more than any single win.

Did You Know?

1. Smart City FC were at one point banned and heavily fined over fan-violence and misconduct during a past match an episode that triggered sanctions and damaged their reputation.
2. That makes recent displays like the Ikenne draw more significant they suggest a renewed commitment to discipline and professionalism, away from the chaos of earlier seasons.
3. Beyond Limits FC, the opponent in this draw, clinched promotion to the top tier (NPFL) at the end of the 2023/24 season — making them among the stronger, hungrier sides in the NNL as Smart City fought for respect.
4. Smart City began their 2024/25 NNL campaign with a victory over Edel FC  signalling early ambition before recent turbulence.
5. The turnaround for Smart City  from scandal to solidarity is playing out at a time when stability in lower-league Nigerian football is rare, making their progress a small but meaningful case study in rebuilding club culture through unity rather than controversy.