By: Willy Punvwet,
Nasarawa United Football Club of Lafia yesterday white washed Sunshine Stars FC of Akure by 4-0 at the Lafia Township Stadium.
The match being a Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) Match day 35 fixture saw the Nasarawa Lads crushing their visitors with four un-replied goals to remain second on the league table.
All the four goals were scored in the first half of the game.
Both teams are scheduled to meet twice within the week with Nasarawa United already drawing the first pound of the flesh on the Akure boys awaiting when they will clash again in the 2021 Aiteo Cup semi finals.
The Aiteo Cup Semi Finals will be played on the 30th of July, 2021 in Asaba, Delta State and this win against same opponents will serve as a morale booster for the Solid Miners.
Silas Nwankwo opened scores for the home team with a fine shot into the left corner of the post in the 11th minute and in the 18th minute secured his brace after the Sunshine goalkeeper, mistakenly parried the ball towards him, in an attempt to pass the ball to his team mate.
In the 23rd minute of play Nwankwo provided an assist when he gave what could best be described as a banana shot from the left flank of the Sunshine Stars defence area into their penalty area that found Aliyu Abdullahi who was well positioned and simply tapped in from close range for goal number three.
The Nasarawa fans were thrown into jubilation and festive mood when Chigozi Obasi freekick outside the 18 yard box in the 39th minute beat Sunshine Stars goalkeeper, Henry Ayodele, to make it 4-0 till the end of the first half.
On resumption of the second half the Nasarawa boys fought tooth and nail to increase the tally but to no avail up till the blast of the fianl whistle.
Head Coach of Nasarawa United Bala Nikyu lamented that his team missed so many chances in the second half, after their classical performance in the first half that gave them the 4-0 margin.
The coach was full of praises to his boys over what he described as their exceptional performance with a promise to ensure that the team maintains the fit in their subsequent matches.
On his part, Head Coach of Sunshine Stars, Deji Ayeni, blamed fatigue for the poor performance of his boys and promised that they will bounce back and give a better performance in the Aiteo Cup semi finals on July 30th.
He said there is the likelihood that it might get to a stage that when you push the players psychologically and mentally, they are going to be down and you cannot get the best from them and was gracious in defeat as he congratulated Nasarawa United for the victory.
He claimed that Nasarawa United got their motivation from their home fans, however he said he gave the victory to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment