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Tag Abia Warriors

  • Mar, Wed, 2020
Sport

Hosts MFM FC beat Abia Warriors to end unhappy run

Drought
By Olanrewaju Akojede
Lagos, March 18, 2020 (NAN) MFM Football Club of Lagos on Wednesday ended their five-game nightmare of enduring a drought of goals and wins by beating visiting Abia Warriors of Umuahia 2-1.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) fixture saw the hosts securing a much-needed victory to steer them away from the relegation zone.

MFM FC started on full throttle in front of agitated fans at the Agege Stadium, and it paid off with a 18th minute clever finish from Dennis Obasi.

Clement Ogwu’s well-taken free-kick in the 29th minute gave the home side a two-goal lead to end the first half on a high in the Match Day 25 fixture.

They however let their guards down during the second half to concede a goal, after goalkeeper Teslim Folarin failed to parry Fatai Abdulahi’s flicked pass.

The hosts were however able to ward off further threats from Abia Warriors to end the game at 2-1.

MFM FC’s coach Tony Bolus, in an interview after the match, said victory was a much-expected win for the team after a five-game winless run.

“Definitely, we are going to key into winning this game for more victories for the team. We have seen some lapses from our strikers which we will work upon.

“We put everything into the game in the first half to achieve our aim,” he said.

Abia Warriors’ coach, Willy Udube, however lambasted his strikers, saying they played to the gallery in order to impress the home fans.

“My strikers were just playing to the gallery because they wanted to impress the home fans. This was because one of them is from Lagos.

“We lost lots of goal scoring chances due to this,” he said.

NAN reports that the last game MFM FC won was on Feb. 9 in a 3-1 win over Kano Pillars on Match Day 20 at the Agege Stadium.

They lost away to Kano Pillars 1-0, then drew 0-0 against visiting Heartland of Owerri, and they lost away to FC IfeanyiUbah.

The winless streak continued with a 0-0 home draw against Rangers International FC, before they suffered an away loss to Warri Wolves.(NAN)
KOJE/OLAL
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

  • Mar, Mon, 2020
Sport

NPFL: Sunshine Stars beat Abia Warriors 1-0

Match
By Segun Giwa
Akure, March 9, 2020 (NAN) Sunshine Stars Football Club of Akure on Sunday defeated visiting Abia Warriors of Umuahia 1-0 in a Match Day 23 fixture of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

The match played at the Ondo State Sports Complex in Akure saw Sunshine Stars’ forward Fuad Ekelojuoti scoring the lone goal in the 50th minute of the encounter.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sunshine Stars had wasted several scoring chances in the match’s first half.

Sunshine Stars’ Technical Adviser, Kabir Dogo, later said he was happy that his team had got back to winning ways.

Dogo, who hailed the improvement in the visiting team since their meeting in the league’s first stanza, said his team’s dream of playing on the continent next season was still on.

“This is what we have been struggling to get since all these days. Thank God we achieved it today with hard work from the players, fans and everybody.

“I dedicate the victory to all the good people of the state. There is a lot of improvement from Abia Warriors compared to what I saw in the first stanza of the season.

“Any team battling relegation is always difficult to play. Our continental target is still on course. With the contribution of everybody we can still achieve it if all the necessities are put in place,’’ he said.

On his part, the Acting Technical Manager of Abia Warriors, Wilfred Udube said it was a good match for both sides.

Udube said he was satisfied with the match’s first half and was not happy with the second half performance of his team.

“It was a good match but we lost. The first half was okay but the second half was nothing to write home about,” he said.(NAN)
GSD/JPE/OLAL
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(Edited by Joseph Edeh and Olawale Alabi)

 

Sport

Gata’s brace helps ABS FC overcome Abia Warriors 2-1

NAN-S-9
NPFL
By Olayinka Owolewa
Ilorin, Sept. 3, 2017 (NAN) Adeshina Gata scored a brace as Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Football Club of Ilorin came from a goal down to beat visiting Abia Warriors FC of Umuahia 2-1 on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Match Day 37 fixture in the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) was played at the Kwara Stadium Complex in Ilorin.

The visitors drew the first blood in the fourth minute when Moses Omoduemuke finished a well-executed counter-attack to put the visitors ahead.

The hosts thereafter overcame their lethargy and dictated most of the proceedings in the first half, with only some occasional counter-attacking moves by Abia Warriors.

But Wasiu Alalade and Martin Ossy lost many goal scoring chances for the game to stay 0-1 at half-time.

ABS FC restarted the game better than the visitors, as they picked up from where they ended the first stanza.

Six minutes after the restart, Gata pushed the ball into the net during a goalmouth scramble to level for the hosts.

Samuel Oyedeji had raced ahead to reach the ball which he crossed for Gata to make judicious use of.

Alalade could have given his team the lead in the 74th minute after he beat Abia Warriors’ defenders to score, but the assistant referee’s offside call cut the striker’s celebration short.

There was a mild drama in the 77th minute when the centre referee sent off Abia Warriors’ Abiodun Adebayo and he refused to leave the pitch.

The action triggered a tense situation in the stadium, with the hosts’ fans booing the visitors.

Gata then went on to put the icing on the cake for the hosts with one minute left on the clock by heading past goalkeeper Chinedu Anozie to put the final score at 2-1.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ABS FC will now travel to Lafia to face hosts Nasarawa United in their final league game of the season.(NAN)
OOH/OLAL
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Sport

Our target to pick continental ticket still within sight, Abia Warriors’ Biffo says

NAN-S-11
Ticket
By Akeem Abas
Ibadan, March 19, 2017 (NAN) Coach Abdullahi Biffo of Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia on Sunday said his team’s target of winning a ticket to play on the continent next season was still achievable.

Biffo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan after the team forced Shooting Stars Sports Club to a goaless draw that they were determined to achieve the target.

NAN reports that the draw was recorded in a 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Match Day 14 game.

The coach said his team was in Ibadan with a determination of picking three points, saying the team was however unlucky.

Biffo said they would however have to return home to prepare very well for their next match against Kano Pillars, adding they would not allow the result to weigh them down.

“We will not allow today’s result to beat our head because we have a vital match at home next week against Kano Pillars.

“Everyone knows we cannot allow ourselves to come down again and that is why we must work hard to pick the three points against Kano Pillars.

“I don’t want to talk about where we would be on the table at mid-season now. I don’t even like to check the table because we still have lots of matches to play.

“Our target before the season started was to pick one of the continental tickets and the target is still alive,” he said.

The coach said the game was not easy to play, knowing fully well that 3SC drew their last two home matches.

Garuba Mohammed, the captain of Abia Warriors FC, on his part said he was happy with the result, noting that it would give them more confidence to win the next game.

Coach Fatai Amoo of 3SC said they were not really happy about the result of the match, even though he acknowledged that his team had shown improvement in its performance.

He said that the team was left to work on how to create and convert its goal scoring chances.

“All we want is to win our games and we will keep on working on performances till we get there,” Amoo said.

The coach said the team’s next game against defending champions Rangers International FC would be a very tough game, assuring that they would give their best.

He said all they needed was to give their best and take their chances to get the desired result.

Amoo said he was sure that his team would not be relegated at the end of the season, saying his players were just newly brought together and were gradually improving.

“I am very sure that by the end of the first stanza of the league, there would have been lots of improvement,” he said.

Also, Taiwo Shittu, a 3SC player, said they tried to convert their goal scoring chances in the game but were unlucky.

He said that they would not relent in efforts at getting their chances converted to goals.

NAN reports that the two teams played very well in the game but were unable to convert their chances.

Opeyemi Adetoyi of 3SC received the prize donated by Ibadan City Polytechnic as the man of match, while the spectators were entertained by Explicit Dancers Group.(NAN)
TAA/OLAL
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)