Sporting Lagos football club defeated Sunshine stars Fc 1-0 at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena Lagos as battle to avoid the drop intensifies in the elite league in Nigeria.
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The South West derby lived up to its expectations with fans cheering both the home team and the visiting team in the early stages of the tie especially with beautiful displays from Sunshine stars defence line to the midfield.
Up front Yusuf Ibrahim, Sodiq Ibrahim and Promise Awosanmi were provided needed passes by Duke Osimaga and Opeoluwa Olufemi.
Stars pressure however paid off 3 minutes into the game as Yusuf Ibrahim fired a shot from the edge hitting the upright.
Sporting were lucky .
Seven minutes later the home team shook the net via a set piece , pascal with the goal in the 11th minutes .
Stars confidence grew despite conceding a goal , and 20 minutes into the game Sunshine stars energetic left foot back , Taiwo Rafiu’s 26 yards free kick was tipped over the bar by sporting Goalkeeper.
In the 33 minutes the Mobolaji Johnson Arena was however divided with rowdy analysis when Yusuf Ibrahim was brought down inside the penalty area but the center referee ignored .
The first half however ended 1-0.
On resumption Into the second half stars mounted in sarch of an equalizer but were denied by sporting defence line .
In the 56th minutes stars had on opportunity to score when sporting Lagos goalie failed to handle a cross at his range .
The ball slips , but stars attackers were meters away , a tap in would have given the visitors an equalizer.
Kennedy Boboye in the 71st minutes introduced Tunde Adeniji and Nelson Osahon to help push harder , the duo came in for Sodiq Yusuf and Opeoluwa Olufemi.
Fans were however shocked in the 75th minutes when the center referee incredibly denied stars a penalty when sporting Lagos defender harshly brought down Emmanuel Ogbuagu inside the box .
Again, Sunshine stars made another substitution in the 87th minutes , Azeez Ajagbe and Kingsley Ogunmola this time replacing Ibrahim Yusuf and Isaac love .
Efforts by Sunshine stars to get an equalizer weren’t enough as the match ended 1-0 in favour of the home team
Kennedy Boboye in his post match interview rued missed chances by his team urging his boys to put the loss behind them
” It’s not a result we wanted , having played so well , but that’s football , we are not disturbed, I’m picking the positives from the tie , atimes Derbies are like that , our focus is our next match ”
Sunshine stars next match is against Enyimba Fc at the Ondo state sports complex.
