Nasarawa United kick-started the second phase of the 2021/22 Nigeria Professional Football League Season with an emphatic 2-0 win over hapless Shooting Stars Sport Club of Ibadan at their new found home in Jos, the Plateau State Capital on Sunday evening.
After a slow start in the first stanza of the season, the Solid Miners made real their intentions to turn around the tide during the second stage of the league, and this they began against visiting Shooting Stars who had won the first-leg 1-0 before their home crowd at the Lekan Salami Sports Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan, Oyo State, on 20th March.
The home side looked more threatening from the blast of the whistle and never reneged as they continued to deploy every mechanism to find a way through.
The first half saw former junior international, King Osanga, who was declared Man-of-the-Match bringing his ingenuity and experience to bear, but none of his set piece attempts ever made any difference.
The duo of returnees, Chinedu Ohanachom (second highest scorer for NUFC last season) and Adamu Hassan(third highest goal scorer for NUFC last season) equally made attempts on goal but got denied by goalkeeper, Ogundare Detan, and a water tight Shooting defence.
As the clock ticked toward the break, two penalty calls by United were waved away by the centre referee after Adamu Hassan’s shot caught the trailing arm of a Shooting player and a header by Aliyu Abdullahi off a cross from Ini Edem.
Nil all was the first half scoreline in a game largely dominated by the Solid Miners.
The restart lasted for only sixteen minutes before United broke the deadlock. Aliyu Abdullahi orchestrated a world-class pass to Adamu Hassan after manoeuvring his way through the traffic with some beautiful pieces of footwork, with the former placing the ball at the top end side of the post beyond the picketing of the goalkeeper.
However, the visitors were unperturbed as they tried to level score but every of their attempts was met by a stiff United’s resistance.
After ringing in some changes at the latter stages of the game, United increased their onslaught on their guests. Two substitutes, Shammasu Mohammed and Sunday Okereke combining well to force a corner kick.
At the nick of time, the Solid Miners dashed any hope of expectations from the Oluyole Warriors after Shammasu Mohammed won a penalty off Isiaka Mutiu. The prodigy confidently stepped up to net his fourth goal of the current campaign to seal a comfortable 2-0 victory and perfect start to the reversed stage of the league, a result that delights Coach Bala Nikyu, and lifts his team to 12th position with twenty-five points.
United will again host Heartland FC of Owerri at the same venue during the midweek before making a medium trip to Gombe to face Gombe United next Sunday.
POST-MATCH REACTIONS:
Coach Bala Nikyu : “Shooting Stars were the last team we played at the first stanza and the game was very tight for them, and that made me think the reverse would be that tough, too.
“The effect of today’s result is that we are stepping up and we hope to continue with this form in our subsequent games, as there is still every possibility that we could repeat the feat of last season and even finish among the top three at the end of the season.
“As for our next game, we will approach it the way it comes.”
Coach Olumide Agoye : “It’s a bit difficult to give any reason as to why we lost the game because it might look like an excuse.
“It’s a very good firs half but the incident that happened during that half was what determined the game today.
“However the outcome, we will go back home, recharge our battery and prepare for the next game, and hopefully, we will win.
“The most important thing for us is to maintain our NPFL status and after that, any other thing will be regarded as a bonus.”
CAUTION:
(Yellow Card):
Olafimihan Gafar 32′
