Sports
TWO goals within five minutes late in the first half ensured that Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan beat visiting Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia 2-0 on Sunday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that recent poor results away from home had kept the hosts hovering in the middle of the table with no discernible upward movement.
But in this Match Day 15 fixture of the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) the hosts were brisk to business.
Anthony Okachi and Samuel Ayanrinde were however finishing weakly as a result of poor coordination, thereby missing a couple of goalscoring chances.
This was in spite of good runs from the middle into the flanks.
Midfielder Monday Gideon, full-backs Gali Falke and Ikouwem Utin were doing well in propping up the hosts’ offensives.
Poor finishing and bad coordination of passes held them back as the duo of Ayanrinde and Okachi could not make hay, even with good support from Akpan Joshua and Tijani Kabiru.
After 37 minutes however, 3SC were able to underline the upper hand they had by scoring from the penalty kick spot through Okachi.
This was after Falke was upended by a defender in the goal area.
Five minutes later, Gideon ran down into the left flank to deliver an inch-perfect pullout to the far side for Joshua to slam in with a low volley for the second goal.
Abia Warriors’ fightback was immediate and stinging, running through the flanks into the middle but failing to be as clinical as necessary to rattle the hosts.
In the second minute of first half added time however, they were able to force goalkeeper Mustapha Lawal into two quick saves when they broke free to face him.
Second half play saw the hosts unable to extend their lead as they looked to have lost steam, with Abia Warriors forcing them to stay on the back foot.
NAN reports that the win took the hosts to sixth place on the log with 21 points from 15 games, after six wins, three draws and six losses.(NAN)
2nd December, 2024.
C.E
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