Nigeria Professional Football League: Kano Pillars topple Sunshine Stars to go top

Kano Pillars have moved to the top of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) standings for the first time this season after a victory over Sunshine Stars was enough to propel them past Enyimba International.

Sai Masu Gida repelled a late storm from Sunshine Stars at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, to see out a 1-0 victory that took them to the top NPFL spot at the expense of Enyimba,who dramatically dropped points at home to Akwa United on Wednesday (February 24).

In the match with Akwa United, Enyimba opened the scoring, almost against the run of play, through their captain Austin Oladapo in the 54th minute, after a superb team move. Akwa would however have the last laugh as right-back Phillip David prodded home with the last kick of the game following an excellent assist from center-half, Samson Gbadepo, as Enyimba failed deal with a set piece.

The result sparked furious celebrations in the Akwa United dugout and probably represented the right result. The visitors had dominated for large periods of the game and created the more opportunities at the International Stadium.

Pillars made the most of Enyimba’s loss and moved to the top of the division as Nyima Nwagua’s early strike on nine minutes completed a sixth straight home win for Emmanuel Lionel Soccoia’s.

Kwara United slipped to second following dropped points in successive games after a one-all draw with Abia Warriors. Mustapha Jibrin put Imama’s Warriors in front six minutes after the hour mark. The Abia club were cruising to a valuable away victory before Kwara United struck late in the game.

Alao Danbani equalised for United in the 95th minute, leaving Abia Warriors head coach, Imama Amapakabo livid at the amount of time allocated for stoppages.
“We cannot continue to do these things,” Amapakabo told SPNAfricaNews. “We should have won this game but Kwara scored their equalizer in the sixth minute of injury time.
“I studied this Kwara team and told my boys that if they (Kwara) did not score early, they would resort to long balls later in the game.
“That’s what they did and we would have closed out this win if there wasn’t so much injury time allocated.”

Frustrated by the late goal, Abia Warriors were reduced to 10 men as Adekunle Adeleke was sent off a minute later. The shared points left Kwara United in second with 22 points and Abia Warriors in 15th place with 13 points.

Rivers United’s away woes continued as they recorded a 0-1 loss to Warri Wolves in Ozoro. Emeka Udo netted the winner for the home side as United dropped to seventh on the standings. It was Wolves’ fourth win of the season but they remain in 19th with seven more games before the halfway stage of the season.

Nasarawa United moved up to fourth on the log with a brilliant 3-0 win over FC Ifeanyi Ubah in Lafia thereby ending a run of six games without a clean sheet  Adamu Hassan’s brace in the second half and a 10th-minute strike from Ikenna Ofor was enough to leave FC Ifeanyi Ubah languishing in 18th position after 12 games.

Wikki Tourists climbed to 8th  with a 2-1 win over Rangers International thanks to Ibrahim Sale’s late winner. Idris Mohammed Guda broke the deadlock with a well-taken penalty five minutes before halftime but Israel Abia brought Rangers back into the game with a fine goal on 58 minutes. However, Ibrahim Sale netted in the 95th minute to give the ‘Giant Elephants’ maximum points at the Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi.

Ibrahim Mustapha was at the double and Oche Ochewechi made a goalscoring contribution as Plateau United soared past Jigawa Golden Stars in Jos to conclude the day’s activities.

Results.Enyimba 1 – 1 Akwa United

Kano Pillars 1 – 0 Sunshine Stars

Kwara United 1 – 1 Abia Warriors

Warri Wolves 1 – 0 Rivers United

Nasarawa United 3 -0 FC Ifeanyi Ubah

Wikki Tourists 2 – 1 Rangers International

Plateau United 3 – 0 Jigawa Golden Stars

Fixtures for Thursday, February 24

Adamawa United vs Lobi Stars

Katsina United vs MFM

Heartland vs Dakkada FC