Football
Jigawa Golden Stars draw 2-2 with hosts FC IfeanyiUbah
FC IfeanyiUbah of Nnewi on Tuesday drew 2-2 with visiting Jigawa Golden Stars of Dutse in a rescheduled Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Match Day 17 fixture.
In the match played at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu, Chinemerem Igboli put FC IfeanyiUbah ahead in the third minute by tapping in Ekene Awazie’s cross.
Andrew Idoko drew the visitors level five minutes after the interval.
In the 61st minute, Christian Molokwu restored FC IfeanyiUbah’s lead after a penalty kick, while Musa Ali made it 2-2 in the 73rd minute.
Uche Okagbue, FC IfeanyiUbah’s coach, while speaking during a post-match interview, said his team had not been lucky in front of goal since the beginning of the league.
“We have not been lucky and I just cannot understand what is happening to the team because we always play well in matches.
“Not converting chances had been our biggest problem in matches since the beginning of the league.
“But the technical team will continue to work on every department until we start winning matches, which has been our mandate,” he said.
Okagbue was however confident the team would not be relegated at the end of the season in spite their current position in the table.
“We are going home to work on our defence to avoid the repeat of the cheap goals we conceded in today’s (Tuesday’s) match,” he said.
Speaking also, Jigawa Golden Stars’ coach Gilbert Opana said the match’s result was designed by God.
“No matter whatever you wish the result to be, it is God that giveth and God decided the match should be a draw.
“We have played many teams and they demonstrated what they have and it ended with deferent results,” he said.
Opana also said he was forced to make two quick changes to force a draw in the match, even though they wanted to win the match.
“We wanted to win the match and we were throwing in all our strikers in search of the goals when we were 1-2 down.
“But we thank God that our efforts yielded a positive result and I am confident that the result will keep coming our way.
“FC IfeanyiUbah are a good side and they are even better than some of the so-called ‘big teams’ we have played against in the league.
“But no matter what, our target is to finish the league in the top 10, ” Opana said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that with the draw, FC IfeanyiUbah remain in the 19th position with 15 points after playing 16 matches.
Jigawa Golden Stars gained a place to move into the 14th position with 19 points from 16 matches as well in the ongoing league.