Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia recorded their third away win of the season with a controlled 4-2 victory over neighbours, Heartland of Owerri in one of the week 19 games of the on going Nigeria Professional Football League.
Heartland, who are yet to beat Abia Warriors in their previous eight Premier League encounters, showed signs of breaking the jinx in the ninth attempt when fleet-footed Nnamdi Egbujor sent the Okigwe Township Stadium (Heartland’s new home ground) into delirium as he nodded in, Uche Oguchi’s free kick in the 11th minute.
But in the 24th minute, Emeka Isaac, who had scored twice this season,released a powerful shot outside the area, which took a slight deflection off Desmond Agbekponor before settling in the Heartland net for the equaliser.
First half ended with that scoreline but when play resumed, Abia Warriors continued from where they stopped, scoring three goals in 26 minutes.
First, youngster, Ibrahim Olawoyin snatched the ball from Heartland’s Joshua Akagbue near the 16-metre box, raced into the vital area and curled a beauty into the net in the 59th minute for his third goal of the season and a flowing counter attack saw Jimoh Oni open his account with a glorious finish nine minutes later.
Playmaker, Fatai Abdullahi put the icing on the cake with a powerful free kick with just four minutes left in regulation time.
But substitute, Igoh Chigozie found space to squeeze in Heartland’s second goal of the night, in the last second of the seven minutes injury time but it was too little, too late as Abia Warriors completed a double over their Oriental brothers for yet another season having won the first leg 1-0 at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
In his reaction, the Technical Adviser of Heartland Football Club, Mehmet Tayfun , described the home loss as very painful but said all hope is not lost yet as they would go elsewhere to regain the lost points.
On his own, Abia Warriors Head Coach, Emmanuel Deutcsh, described the away win as very crucial in Warriors quest to maintain their Premier League status, pointing out that they will continue to work hard until the end of the season.
