JAMAICA’S Reggae Boyz put up a valiant effort but came up just short of claiming the title as Unity Cup champions after suffering a narrow 5-4 penalty shootout defeat to Nigeria in Saturday’s final at Brentford FC’s Gtech Stadium in London.

The Nigerians opened the scoring eight minutes into the contest when captain Moses Simon scored his 10th goal for the Super Eagles.

The Nantes winger latched on to a cross from Cyriel Dessers after the Rangers forward was played open by an excellent ball over the top from Leicester City holding midfielder Wilfred Ndidi.

The Jamaicans responded perfectly to Nigeria’s early goal, equalising just two minutes later thanks to some excellent attacking play from wingers Renaldo Cephas and Kaheim Dixon.

Cephas produced one of his trademark direct runs on the left wing before crossing the ball to Dixon who easily put the chance away to score his third goal for the national team.

That was the bulk of the action for the rest of the first 45 minutes as the teams went into the break locked a 1-1.

The second half began with some back and forth action between the Caribbean and African giants before, seven minutes into the restart, AC Milan winger Samuel Chukweze restored Nigeria’s lead with a well-placed left-footed shot into the bottom left corner from just inside the 18-yard box.

Jamaica fought back once again to make it 2-2 thanks to a brilliant right-footed Jonathan Russell finish from inside the box after another Cephas cross in the 63rd minute.

The Nigerians came closest to grabbing a winner in regulation time with an Ndidi left-footed strike from just outside the box in the 90th minute going agonisingly wide.

The final whistle then meant that the destination of the 2025 Unity Cup would be decided on penalties.

Richard King, as he did against Trinidad & Tobago, calmly stepped up to give Jamaica the lead in the shootout while Kelechi Iheanacho was equally as calm to make it 1-1 with his spot kick.

Successful penalties from Isaac Hayden and Moses Simon followed to make it 2-2 before Ravel Morrison and Tolu Arokodare also scored theirs to make it 3-3.

The only hiccup of the shootout came with Jamaica’s fourth attempt which Dwayne Atkinson put off the crossbar and over.

Bruno Onyemaechi then scored for Nigeria before captain Amari’i Bell converted for Jamaica in a can’t miss situation.

Debutant Christantus Uche then held his nerve to give the Nigerians the victory. (Sportsmax)