NPFL Matchday 2 review
The second round of the new Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) season was played on January 16th. Once again, only six matches out of the twelve scheduled were played, two in Group A and four in Group B.
Group A
The Niger Tornadoes were at home playing Rivers Utd at the Bako Kontagora Stadium. No goals were scored in the first half, but the Ikon Allah boys took the lead in the second half. Eric Frimpong was the scorer in the 66th minute. Only three minutes later, the Pride of Rivers scored through Ossy Martins to make the final score 1:1.
Kwara United travelled to the Agege Stadium to take on the Mountain of Fire Ministries (MFM) team who lost their first match of the season. Still, they regrouped for this one and brought home all three points with two second half goals. Segun Alebiosu scored in the 49th minute and Kabir Adeniji sealed it in the 77th minute.
Group B
Abia Warriors played their second match in four days hoping to bounce back from an opening day loss. Their opponents in this game were Go Round who had their first match of the season postponed. The Warriors played badly, losing their second game in a row at home. They were a better team but the Lions of Omoku caught them on the counter and took the lead in the 37th minute through Sadiq Ololade.
After the restart, the Warriors managed to level the game when Emeka Isaac converted a penalty kick in the 69th minute. But, two minutes into the stoppage time, they were shocked when Go Round scored their second and winning goal courtesy of an Emmanuel Ugwu strike.
Heartland FC (npfl.ng)
At the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Heartland welcomed Plateau Utd. The Naze millionaires were confident at the start of this match despite the opening defeat but at the break, the score was 0:0.
They managed to take the lead after the restart with Efe Yarhere scoring in the 60th minute. Towards the final whistle, they added two more goals to seal the victory. Both were scored by Chidiebere Ajoku, the first one in the 79th and the second one in the 89th minute, to make the final score 3:0 to Heartland.
After getting a point away to Plateau Utd in the opening match, FC Ifeanyi Ubah were back at home to face Nasarawa United. A single goal scored by Chijioke Alaekwe in the dying minutes of the game was the decider in this match, giving the Anambra Warriors their first win of the season and putting them on the top of Group B.
El-Kanemi Warriors welcomed the Kano Pillars at the El-Kanemi Sports Stadium, in their second match in four days. Bello Musa Kofarmata scored the opener for the Warriors but the Pillars fought back and equalized just before the break through Rabiu Ali.
The second half belonged to the home side where they took the lead again in the 71st minute, courtesy of a goal by Abdulrazak Aliyu which turned out to be the winning goal, giving the Warriors another win and first place in Group B with two wins and six points. Kofarmata, the scorer of the first goal, was sent off in the 86th minute.