Lobi stars this morning inside the main bowl of Dipo Dina International Stadium squeezed through fellow NPFL Club, MFM 1-0 in the ongoing second edition of Dapo Abiodun Pre-season Cup.
The game kicked off 7:44 off the foot of Lobi Stars’ new prodigy, Segun Alebosun, and straight away the coach Kabiru Dogo tutored lads went into the business of winning the game.
The Lobi Stars who are putting finishing touches to their preparations for the new season were at their best as they made a formidable side like MFM look like a schoolboys’ team.
It is important to reiterate that the dominance of the pride of Benue over the Olukoya boys was not due to weak opposition but a well-coordinated performance on the side of Lobi Stars that made the opponents look ordinary.
Every two to three minutes was a goal possibility for Lobi Stars all through the game.
The Ortom Boys attack led by wonder boy Abdulkareem Mumini, supported by bullish Abdulwasiu Mahmud, Tiza Samuel, and Segun Alebosun made mincemeat of MFM with unpardonable misses till the 28th minute when a long ball possession by Lobi Stars got the whole team involved in the interplay till the ball ended on the left attacking third of Lobi Stars with stand-in captain Ebube Duru who powered a cross towards the goal area of the opponents.
The cross was blocked back to Ebube whose second shot at the goal was inadvertently aided into the net by a defender of MFM for Lobi Stars’ only goal of the game.
The pressure continued on The Olukoya boys with occasional breaks on a few occasions that would have given them an equalizer but the scoreline remained unchanged till halftime at 45+2.
On resumption, it was the same scenario as Lobi Stars kept the tempo with Abdulkareem Mumini as a tormentor in chief, tearing the MFM defense apart but with misses and saves from the goalkeeper.
In an attempt to add bite to the attack, Coach Dogo introduced Austin Ogunye to take over from Abdulwasiu Mahmud who gave a good account of himself, while Imade Osarenkehoe replaced Segun Alebosun as teammate Emeka Isaac bagged a yellow card 3 minutes later for a rough tackle.
The changes intended to add bite instead caused the loss of steam on the side of Lobi Stars as there was a momentary loss of concentration that would have given way for an equalizer before Abdulkareem Mumini energized the team to a renewed zeal in front of goal, but he kept shooting blank at MFM goal.
Tiza Samuel gave way for Ahamefule in the 68 minutes and lastly Abdulkareem Mumini a striker was pulled out for defence player Bunde Moses to throw in a caution against any mishap that could bring MFM back into the highly entertaining encounter.
Other results of matchday 2
Shooting Stars 5-1 Nilayo FC.
Crown FC 1-0 Godosky FC.
