A brace from Joseph Arumala gave us victory over Niger Tornadoes on matchday 25 of the Nigeria Premier Football League 25/26 season and saw us move to the top spot on the league table.
LINE-UP: Michael Atata; Daniel Idoko, Aliu Salawudeen, Jaguar Uche, Elijah Ujunwa; Kelechi Onwe, Tosin Oyedokun, Tomisin Adebayo, Joseph Arumala, Tomiwa Awojobi & Chidera Oparaocha.
The line up saw us start with a lot of firsts or returnees. Tomisin was back in action after recovering from an injury that kept him out for two months, Daniel Idoko was playing his debut for the club in his second spell, Aliu Salawudeen was playing in front of the home fans for the first time and Jaguar Uche returned after a three game suspension due to a red card against El Kanemi Warriors.
The first 20 minutes were not with any real action until Chidera headed a cross from Ujunwa slightly wide in the 24th minute. Eight minutes later, Chidera again was in the mix as he won a penalty. Joseph Arumala stepped up and dispatched coolly for his 7th goal of the season taking us into half time.
Tomisin was eased off at the start of the second half to aid his calm return and much later, Chidera gave way for Ayoola Ibrahim. The second goal seemed like a far cry as more changes were made.
Two minutes to the end of regulation time, Joseph Arumala made his name known again. Received a pass from Tosin just passed the half way line, ran towards the Tornadoes defense, beat two defenders and send a low drive into the bottom corner to seal our win and three points that took us to the summit of the league with Rivers United not in league action.
UP NEXT
We take a trip to the south east to face Enyimba FC of Aba. Our last meeting at that stadium saw us concede a late goal in added time that left us with a 2-1 defeat.
SUBSTITUTIONS
OUT: Tomisin Adebayo IN: Aderemi Adeoye 46’
OUT: Chidera Oparaocha IN: Ayoola Ibrahim 69’
OUT: Tomiwa Awojobi IN: Bada Moses 79’
BOOKINGS
Yellow
Aderemi Adeoye 62’
Joseph Arumala 67’