Football fans left the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan, with all smiles on Sunday evening as Shooting Stars FC handed visiting Wikki Tourists of Bauchi two unreplied goals to strengthen their bid to ship away from the relegation zone of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
The Match-day 27 encounter saw Ibrahim Ajani drawing the first blood in the 29th minute with a cheeky tap-in over goalkeeper Emeka Nwabulu after outpacing defenders Ambrose Peter and Waziri Christopher.
Attacking midfielder, Bode Daniel, doubled the lead for the Oluyole Warriors by also tapping in a rebound in a six-yard box scramble with three minutes to the half time break.
With Chinedu Onyelonu’s low header denied entry by the upright in the first half, Wikki returned in the second half looking poised to prove their mettle but Ahmed Usman’s 57th minute strike was parried out by Adamu Abubakar for a corner kick.
Substitute Chukwudi Samuel returned with a fantastic drive in the 80th minute, dribbling three Shooting defenders right inside the box but team captain, Ebiaku Promise, recovered quickly to block his shot from the 12 yard range.
Wikki’s Assistant Coach, Mangut Mbwas who praised the referee, Ukah Ndubuisi, for excellent officiating, said it was just a bad day for his boys.
“We really need to step up our game to be comfortable on the log,” he told npfl-ng.com.
Shooting Stars Assistant Coach, Edith Agoye, who was all smiles for the victory said the maximum points garnered from the fixture is important for the Ibadan club in its bid to remain in the elite league at the end of the season.
He said that the performance of his boys has been consistently encouraging in the past four outings and it demonstrates that the team has found its rhythm.Â
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MATCH-DAY 27
MFM 2-1 ABS
3SC 2-0 Wikki
Lobi 3-1 Rangers
FCIU 2-0 Katsina
Tornadoes 1-0 Remo
Akwa 1-0 Enyimba
El-Kanemi 1-0 Plateau
Nasarawa 1-1 Gombe
Sunshine 1-0 Abia Warriors
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