By Ahmad Elnafaty
The possession-dominant Sunshine Stars had as much as 70% of the ball in the first 10 minutes, albeit without making it count as far as attacking plays were concerned against a gritty El-Kanemi Warriors in one of Saturday’s festive fixtures in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).
The Desert Warriors sought to press the hosts into errors when possible and had a couple of promising moments in the final third through Nasiru Salihu, but quality was lacking in both boxes during a tepid contest.
El-Kanemi Warriors were reduced to 10 men inside the final 10 minutes after their player was sent off following a second bookable offence in the dying embers.
The breakthrough finally arrived in the 85th minute, with Promise Awosanmi latching onto Elma Arunta’s pass before side-footing the ball past Abine George into the empty net to propel the hosts ahead.
Aliyu Zubairu made a raft of changes in an attempt to get back into the game but Bobola Akinfolari’s boys took advantage of their extra man as they remained relentless in their work rate and organisation.
Abine George deserved honourable mention after making several impressive saves during the course of the 90 minutes.
However, George’s performance will not get the headlines as Awosanmi produced the game-defining moment to get the Owena Whales back to winning ways under the enormous pressure of a five-game winless run.
El-Kanemi’s failure means that the Desert Warriors miss the chance to move into the top-four of the NPFL table—they remain fifth for now—while the Owena Whales sit in 13th place.
After securing a late win, Sunshine Stars will target a second consecutive victory when they travel to Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos for a meeting with Ikorodu City next weekend. A match to be played behind-closed-doors.
As for the visitors, they would have been disappointed to concede late on, but they can still take some encouragement from their battling performance as they now turn their focus to a mouthwatering home clash with Kano Pillars.