Rangers International F.C on Sunday, May 5, 2019 inside a fully packed Enyimba International stadium, was stopped by eternal rivals, Enyimba International F.C 3-1 in a match day 17 NPFL encounter, sports247.ng gathers
Media Chief of the Flying Antelopes, Nobert Okolie according to him said the Rangers came into the game full of confidence of erasing last Thursday’s defeat in Port-Harcourt against Rivers United pushing for an early lead but were denied by the brilliance of Theophilus Afelokhai, in goal for the host, who twice denied the visitors early sniffs at goal.
Enyimba drew the first blood on 14 minutes as Ifeanyi Anaemena rose the highest to connect home a Stanley Dimgba’ inviting free-kick while the ovation that greeted this first strike had hardly died down, Gueara Jean-Maria scored the second for the host on 19 minutes after connecting with a Thomas Zenke’ cut back from the left flank.
Stunned as they were, the Enugu landlords gathered themselves and fought back gamely with Afelokhai’ reflexes denying Pascal Seka’ well drilled header on 37 minutes and another tight angled shot on the stroke of half time.
The coach Olugbenga Ogunbote tutored side came into the second stanza the stronger and made this intent known by cutting the deficit within the first five minutes as a Chiamaka Madu’ intelligent cut back was met by Godwin Aguda who released an unstoppable salvo that Afelokhai had no answer to.
More raids by the ‘Gburugburu Boys’ to draw level failed to result in goals as a combination of unpardonable misses, quality defending by the duo of Nelson Ogbonnaya and Ifeanyi Anaemena and the agile Afelokhai ensured the result never changed until the hour mark when Anaemena grabbed his second of the day as he nodded in a third for the host from a dead ball situation.
Edo state born Afelokhai was to perform more heroics as he did well to beat out a Pape Ousmane goal bound header on 62 minutes with the rebound blasted wide while Isiaka Oladuntoye watched in awe as his well struck shot missed target by whiskers on 64 minutes.
Godwin Aguda’ golden miss on 85 wrapped up a day of misses for the ‘Flying Antelopes’ as he shot wide with a yawning net at his mercy after Afelokhai failed to have a firm grip of the ball earlier.
With the loss, Rangers’ lead in group A log is cut to three points as the ‘Aba Elephants’ now have 28 points and remain in second spot while MFM is third with 27 points after defeating Rivers United 1-0 in Lagos.
Coach Ogunbote in a post match chat said it was unfortunate that the match ended with his team on the losing side stressing, “Well, sometimes it’s like that. We had three straight draws on the road, three straight wins and now, three straight losses. It is quite unfortunate. This is not good for us. We were careless in conceding the first two goals but we take the positives and work our way back to our winning ways going into the super-six.”
Coach Usman Abdella of Enyimba said after the encounter, “It was a fantastic game which we won convincingly and I am very happy. This match has a lot of history going with it and my players rose to the occasion today. We hope to continue working on the team as we target a grand finish at the season ending super-six.”
The table toppers will mid-week trade tackles with visiting Kwara United in a match day 18 fixture inside the main bowl of Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium, Enugu with kickoff fixed for 4.00pm.
RANGERS TEAM: Nana Bonsu, Tope Olusesi, Isaac Loute, Tony Shimaga, Pape Ousmane, Isiaka Oladuntoye, Godwin Aguda, Chiamaka Madu, Seka Pascal (Ajani Ibrahim -87th Min.), Solomon Okpako (Ifeanyi Egwim -48th Min.), Emeka Ayogueke (Ifeanyi George -26th Min.) SUBS NOT USED: Japhet Opubo, Okey Odita, Felix Ogbuke, Semiu Liadi.
Goal: Godwin Aguda – 49th Minute.
