Enyimba steadies surge towards league title

Chinedu Udoji scored twice for Enyimba International to consolidate their position on the Glo Premier League log moving five points clear of the chasing pack. It was a firm statement of intent of their title ambitions in this season.

The game which started with so much hype lived up to that billing as Enyimba showed how much that they needed the result by asking all the questions having lost 2-1 last weekend away to El-Kanemi Warriors.

Captain Udoji, whose goals against Wikki opened his account since he signed for the Peoples Elephant from FC Abuja in 2010, was voted the man of the match after his eye-catching performance took the shine off the strikers who failed to find the back of the net.

He opened scoring in the 43rd minute and again beat his former teammate, Paul Godwin in goal for Wikki Tourists from the penalty spot. The 52nd minute penalty resulted after Peter Onyekachi was brought down inside the six-yard and Udoji made no mistake from the spot to double the lead.

Godwin, who pulled off a massive save from Markson Ojobo in the 16th minute would turnout to be the busier of the two goalkeepers as Enyimba’s Femi Thomas was mostly on holidays. But for poor finishing and waste of set-pieces. Enyimba should have scored more goals but their frontmen could not apply the finish when it mattered most.

But worthy of mention are the sleek performance of Kingsley Sokari, who came off the bench to replace Musa Najare as well Nzube Anaezemba, Peter Onyekachi and Ezekiel Bassey who played the roles of tormenting Wikki with their pace and guile.

Wikki’s chance of fighting their way back into the contest was put paid to when Harrison Madu was red carded after a second bookable offence for a foul on the impressive Ezekiel Bassey. At this point, it mattered little for Enyimba as they cruised to their 16th win of the campaign and opened a five-point lead while 10-man Wikki are left to rue what they could have done better.

Howbeit, coach of Wikki, Abdu Makaiba, had one complain. He attributed their loss and poor display to the playing surface of the Enyimba stadium which he described as “unplayable.”

“It was a good game but we had some problems especially the turf which is non-playable and we found it very difficult to express ourselves,” said Maikaba, whose team have now dropped from third to fourth position in the Glo Premier League ranking.