ABS FC downs Tornadoes in Ilorin

Substitute Eugene Ossy's 84th minute strike for ABS FC quelled the upsurge of Niger Tornadoes in Ilorin as the Saraki Boys grind out a 2-1 win in one of the Matchday 22 of the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL encounters played on Sunday.

The grueling encounter played at the Kwara State Stadium, Ilorin saw Mohammed Mohammed ended his ten games' drought as he put the hosts in the lead in the 19th minutes.

Adeshina Issa Gata raced down the left flank, dribbled past both Lawal Shittu and Ammeh Wilfred before releasing a pass that Mohammed had to bury with his back facing the post.

Ibrahim Wakili level the scoreline for Niger Tornadoes as he converted a first half stoppage time penalty after Hammed has brought down Samuel Agba in the box.

Coach Henry Makinwa made two changes in restart of the game with Chindo Babamgida and Eugene Ossy replacing Ibrahim Abdullahi and Best Deemua.

And both added bite to ABS' attack as they forced Tornadoes to fall deep into their half for almost entire duration of the second half.

 

The pressure on the visitors finally weighed them with six minutes when man of the match Issa Gata with his weaving runs made his way to the edge of the box before releasing a killer pass to Ossy who arrived at best time to rounded Kazeem Yekeen before scoring the winner for the Saraki Boys.

The early part of the match witnessed exchange of possessions as both sides showed real intense of making the game an interesting one.

But it was hosts ABS FC who hit the ground running with first shot at goal.

Mohammed Mohammed head straight to the waiting hands of goalkeeper Kazeem Yekeen.

Samuel Oyedeji's free kick was also headed wide by Arinze Oyota while Best Deemua shoot wide from edge of the box.

Samuel Agba, Wakili, Wilfred Ammeh and Ebenezer Odeyemi were the tormentor in defense of ABS FC as they put both Ernest Governor and Omolayo Ibrahim to real test forcing them to series of Goal mouth clearance.

But the brilliance of the younger Gata earned the hosts the first goal which was intelligently converted by lanky Mohammed.

The goal looked to have being a tonic to awaken Tornadoes as they responded well with meaningful attack which later paid off with a minutes to end first half when the strength of Agba was too much to contend for Hammed as the jittery left back drawn Agba in the box after being dribbled on the run.

Wakili make it three goals in two games as he stepped forward and converted the resultant spot kick for the Ikon Allah Boys.

 

The boys of Coach Abubakar Bala went too deep in the second stanza of the pulsating game in Ilorin as they allowed ABS to run riot around their goal area.

That pressure on Tornadoes and injury sustained by their bulky striker Odeyemi weaken the Minna based side as they eventually fell for their hosts to conceded a late goal through substitute Ossy.

The relieved Head Coach of ABS FC P, Henry Makinwa who admitted that it was a tough game for his wards said he was confident the goal would come.

Makinwa added that his young squad have achieved the unexpected this season with their performance and results garnered adding that the club would addressed their recent let in of goals on the road.

"It was a difficult match, tough side to face, but I'm relieved we got the goal which I'm sure we would with the way we played late in the game.

"I think we've tried, I don't think any other coaches could have done more than what I've achieved. This is a young squad that can easily fell for a big size players, their psychological level isn't that high, especially in our away games making us to concede goals but we are coping well, we will get over that soon," he said.

Technical Adviser of Niger Tornadoes, Abubakar Baka who ruled his side's unfortunate defeat noted that the game could have ended in a draw had his defenders reacted quickly to thwart Gata's run.

The soft spoken with confidence coach however reiterated his club's ambition to finish in the top half of the league.

"It was a nice game, you could see everybody enjoyed the game, it's still not a bad game but it could have been a draw for us today, just like I saiid we are not here for jamboree, my boys proved it and we make them (ABS) labor till the end.

"We are still on course with our ambition, it's very much intact that we will finish in where we target or even surpass that," Coach Bala said.

ABS FC will next travel to Anambra to take on FC IfeanyiUbah on Wednesday while Niger Tornadoes host Nigeria's sole representative on the continent, River United in Lokoja on Thursday.