Match Hero, Noble, Rescues Enyimba from Sporting Lagos
*Remo Stars, Katsina Utd share the spoil
Femi Solaja
Super Eagles’ goalkeeper, John Noble, was the hero of the night as he rescued Nigeria Premier League champions, Enyimba FC, from the jaws of defeat against newly promoted Sporting Lagos FC at the on-going Naija Super 8 tournament at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos.
Both sides put up brilliant performances with Sporting Lagos side looking more adventurous. Two-time African champions, Enyimba had to dig deep into experience to neutralise the new entrants to the Nigerian topflight.
With the ‘end to end’ tie looking more like a goalless outing, Sporting Lagos were rewarded with a penalty in the 82nd minute but substitute, Mohammad Zulkifilu’s grounder was well calculated but the goalie to denied the fledging Lagos side the maximum points.
A loss would have eliminated the Peoples’ Elephant from the contest after their 1-2 loss to Remo Stars in the opening match on Friday.
Earlier in the day, NPL returnees, Katsina United, held league runners-up, Remo Stars of Ikenne to a 1-1 draw.
The close contest produced two first half goals, which proved decisive. Remo Stars took the lead through Fabian Iworie in the 21st minute while Katsina United responded with an equaliser five minutes later, after Samson Olasupo, beat the offside trap to tap home his own rebound shot.
Remo Stars goalkeeper, Tambe Charles, produced two quick-fire saves to deny Katsina United the lead late in the half, to ensure both sides were on level scores at the break.
The two teams cancelled each other out in the second half, with chances few and far between.
The Ikenne boys desperately pushed for the winner late in the game, but were denied by a resolute Katsina United defence.
Reacting to the result, Remo Stars Head Coach, Daniel Ogunmodede, said his team played a side who had a point to prove. “Katsina United are no underdogs in this match. This is a team that just got promoted to the NPFL. They had a point to prove. They wanted to show that their promotion is not a fluke and they did the job well.”
“I’m not disappointed, we started nine fresh players. We are gradually achieving our objectives. I’m actually impressed with this performance. Our aim here is to win games. Our goal is to win the tournament. We drew today, no excuses.”
The result put Remo Stars top of Group A with four points from two matches, while Katsina has one point from one game.
