They held on with every skill to secure their first away point of the season against Heartland FC in Owerri.
By Emmanuel Chinedu, In Owerri
The 2026/27 Nigeria National League (NNL) season returned for the new campaign, with a mouth-watering clash between Heartland FC and Crown FC of Ogbomoso in the Southern Conference A opening fixture on Sunday, at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri.
The Naze Millionaires began the encounter in an impressive way, after Ekene Osuigwe struck home a delightful solo finish to put the host in front inside 11 minutes through a brilliant pass from right back, Godwin Victor, as the forward slotted it over Crown FC goalkeeper Majayogbe Matthew. Osondu Jonathan made it 2-0 after he converted the spot kick as the host went into the half-time break with a 2-0 lead.
In the second half, the visitors’ head Coach, Fatai Akande, made two quick substitutions to help bring the side into the game. A few minutes later, Osas Kevin pulled a goal back for Crown following a mix-up in the Heartland Defensive line to reduce the scoreline to 2-1. Before second half substitute, Mustapha Olamil drew the game on level terms with a brilliant finish to made it 2-2 in the 54th minute.
However, the tempo of the game began to change as the visitors started to defend with their lives to protect their backline. They held on to secure their first away point of the season against Heartland FC in Owerri.
While speaking shortly after the encounter, Crown’s Coach, Fatai Akande, praised the performance of his team to bounce back from 2-0 down to secure a valuable point.
“I think it was a good mental character from the boys; coming back from two goals down is not easy,” Akande said.
” However, it is just the first game of the season, and we will continue to improve on our performance, but the second-half performance showed a lot of resilience in our team.”
