Abia Warrior’s Shedrack Asiegbu brace was all that was required to secure their first Nigerian topflight home win against Plateau United on Sunday.
Abdullahi Biffo’s side were hoping to earn their first home win in four meetings against Kennedy Boboye’s men at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
Shedrack Asiegbu was the hero of the day as he scored in either half to help the hosts to halt the unbeaten run of the league leaders despite a late rally. It was all Abia Warriors in the opening stages and Uche Ihuarulam came close to scoring but was denied by Plateau goalkeeper Dele Ajiboye in the seventh minute.
The hosts were rewarded from their pouring attack as Asiegbu managed to find a space and fired home from 25 yards to get the lead in the 11th minute. Boboye, who was making his first Umuahia’s return since departing last season, saw his side struggle to impress in the first half despite seeing few scoring chances.
The Peace Boys best scoring opportunity happened three minutes to the break as Emeka Umeh set up Emma James but the later made no profit of the glorious chance.
In the second half, the home side resumed on the high with top scorer Sunday Adetunji sneaking through but disappointingly saw strike meet the Plateau side’s net.
With 10 minutes left to play, the table toppers came back fighting hard and Owolabi got the priceless equaliser, gifting from the Warriors’ poor managing of a throw-in in the goal area.
With a ridiculous 8 minutes added as extra time, Sherif Bashir secured a penalty after he was deemed fouled in the area by Hamisu Saleh and Asiegbu made no mistake from the spot to seal the victory.
Plateau United still remain top of the table as we head into matchday 26.
See Other Results from Match Day 25 Below:
