Faces tricky last Group B fixture against Remo Stars today
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Bendel Insurance’s hope of returning to Nigeria’s topflight NPFL received a last minute shock yesterday as Ekiti United scored an 89th minute equalizing penalty at the ongoing Nigeria National League (NNL) Super 8 Playoff in Enugu.
Now, with just one point from two matches, Insurance are condemned to beating Remo Stars by three unreplied goals to stand any chance of picking one of the two tickets from Group B of the playoff.
Both Remo and 3SC are tied on four points apiece going into the last Group B matches today.
The Sagamu-based Remo are on top of the log as a result of superior goal difference (plus 3) advantage over Shooting Stars (plus 1).
Insurance are third on the log, although they have one point just like Ekiti United.
The Benin-based team have a minus one-goal difference as against minus three-goal difference by Ekiti United.
Insurance were cruising to picking their first three points of the play with Imade coming from the bench to score the goal deep into the second half.
However, sloppy defending by Insurance central defenders resulted in one of the players handling the ball in the box in the 89th minute. Ekiti tucked the resultant spot kick into the far right corner for the equalizer.
The added two minutes had barely ran out when the centre referee ended the game. Angry Insurance fans however expressed their displeasure with the manner of officiating witnessed during the game.
In Group A, the duo of Niger Tornadoes and Gombe United are already sure of promotion with four points apiece while the DMD can cause upset if they defeat El-Kanemi by as much as four goals should any of Tornadoes and Gombe United lose their last game.
Kanu Out of Bordeaux, Lens’ Showdown, Coach Confirms He must Quarantine
Bordeaux manager Vladimir Petkovic has confirmed that he will not be able to count on the services of Nigeria international, Samuel Kalu and Ghana’s Gideon Mensah for the upcoming meeting with Lens which corresponds to the fifth round of matches in Ligue 1.
Kalu and Mensah were on international duty with the Super Eagles and Black Stars respectively in the latest FIFA window, so must observe a period of quarantine following their return to France from Africa.
The former Gent star has to quarantine for seven days after his trip to Lagos, the city where the Super Eagles were based before flying to Cape Verde on Monday.
Providing a squad update at yesterday’s press conference, Petkovic was quoted as saying by Girondins4Ever : “Obviously, we have two players who came back from Africa and who therefore cannot play (Mensah and Kalu).
“These are things that shouldn’t happen, but they should also be decided at levels higher than us.
“Now we just have to focus on what we can do with the players available, in order to do the best we can.
“But yesterday, we already had good news, that of training with almost the entire workforce”.
Kalu’s international teammate Josh Maja has been ruled out of Sunday’s game at Stade Matmut-Atlantique due to a back issue.
