By Emmanuel Chinedu
Enyimba secured their first win of the season, thumping the Shooting Stars of Ibadan 4 -2 on Wednesday in a rescheduled matchday 2 encounter of the EuroMatch Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).
The encounter, decided at the Elephant Park, the Enyimba International Stadium, Aba, saw Enyimba start on a brilliant note when midfielder Richard Ezinna struck home an early lead, beating off Shooting Stars goalkeeper Sochima Victor inside six minutes.
The People’s Elephant continued on its dominance when Enyimba’s defender, Chibueze Damian, hit a beautiful long-range effort to double the lead in the 28th minute after Sochima failed to clear the ball, which resulted to a goal for Enyimba. Idris Abubakar made it 3-0 in the 36th minute with a delightful solo finish as the Emmanuel Deutsch-led side went into the halftime break with a 3-0 lead.
In the second half, the host continued showing clear dominance in the early stage, as Ifeanyi Ihemekwele found the back of the net in the 49th to increase the goals tally of the game to 4-0 and also his first league goal of the season.
Shooting Stars Head Coach, Salisu Yusuf, made five straight substitutions after they conceded the fourth goal, with the introduction of Adams, Johnmark, and Fulke into the game.
However, the two second-half substitutes pulled back two goals in the 76th and 90+2 minutes, but it wasn’t enough as the Shooting Stars suffered yet another defeat on the road to Enyimba in Aba.
While speaking shortly after the encounter, Enyimba Assistant coach, Okechukwu Ejeh, praised the performance of the team in their victory, but revealed that it was still a work in progress defensively because of the number of goals they conceded late in the game.
“Yes, it is a really good performance by the boys. I think this victory was needed and we were very clinical, and it helped us in scoring all four chances we got.
“Even against Inter Lagos and Sporting Lagos in our last two home matches, we were unable to convert the chances, which also cost us the game, but it is a learning process, and we will continue working hard, especially defensively, to stop conceding cheap goals. But I’m proud of how we played in the game, and we do expect to see more against Plateau United this Sunday.”
Photo: Enyimba players
