Nigerian youngster Ossai Nosike at the weekend grabbed his first hat trick of the season as​​ Vilar de Perdizes thrashed GDC Salto 7-1 to increase his goal tally to an impressive 24 with three matches to spare before the end of the AF Vila Real District League in Portugal.

Ostensibly, the elated Nosike described the moment as joyful stressing tat adding the three goals to his 21 already will boosts his confidence and expressed happiness that the goals helped his team to collect the needed three points.

“I feel so happy to score my first hat trick of the season and it gives me more joy being able to add to the number of goals I’ve scored so far in the season,” noted the 20-year-old.

“I have 24 goals now and I’m second on the top scorer chart in the league.

“The guy at the top (Joao Nuno of FC Santa Marta)  has over 30  goals and we have just three more matches before the end of the season. Maybe I would have scored more goals if I’d joined the club much earlier at the beginning of the season,” noted Nosike who reportedly scored 29 goals for SC Vila Real before arriving at Vilar de Perdizes.  

Nosike has been in excellent scoring form with Vilar de Perdizes in the on-going campaign and the youngster has not hidden his desire to play for the Olympic Eagles currently jostling for a ticket for the forthcoming U-23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) later in the year.

“Of course, I’m hoping for a call up to play for the national U-23 side. I believe I can do as much as I’m doing for my club if given the chance to play for the national team.” 

In a related development, Nosike’s teammate and compatriot, Nnaoma Bede Opara is happy to be back in action again since he copped an injury while on duty with the Olympic Eagles early April. 

“I’m very happy to be back in action again since April when I was injured before the U-23 AFCON qualifying match against Libya.

“Being able to play the full 90 minutes against GDC Salto was a personal victory for me beside the fact that we beat them 7-1.“ We are third on the table now but only one team can  be promoted at the end of the season and I’m sure we would get better in the coming months,” the hard-tackling defender explained.