Road Safety denies ABS in opening Bet9ja NNL day

Road Safety FC of Abuja on Saturday forced hosts, Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC to a one-all draw.

The match was the opening game of the long over due 2017/2018 Bet9ja Nigeria National League (NNL).

The game which was played at the Kwara Stadium Complex, saw the hosts, in front in the opening 10 minutes of the game through Sunday Damian.

Toyin Alege's pass from the ABS defense found Sunday Damian, who  spotted his angle before he fired to the roof of the net in the 9th minute. 

The Saraki Boys dominated most of the proceedings for the duration of the of the first stanza of the game but had nothing to show for it. 

The visitors returned for 2nd half  better than their hosts and were always dangerous moving forward. 

Ayamkyegh Gary tormented the ABS midfield through to the defence when he gets the balls with his array of passes. 

In the 67th minute, Philip Edeh, beat the offside trap to connect Gary's pass with best Soliu Dogo in goal for ABS to beat for the equaliser. 

ABS coach, Tunde Sanni, had introduced skilful Deemua Best and Tosin Olabode to fortified his attack but that did not yield any positive result for the Saraki Boys. 

At close minutes of the game, the Saraki Boys appealed for two penalties but the centre referee Mohammed Gimba from Niger State turned blind eyes to their appeal. 

Speaking after the game, Sanni, described the result as unfortunate and couldn't explain what went wrong with his boys because they didn't play in an ABS way. 

"I am surprised with our display today, we were comfortable playing badly. 

"It is as if I lost this game, the team shouldn't have survived us. 

"Our technical display today was poor, some of my key players let me down, they didn't come to the party" Sanni said. 

The ABS gaffer explained that some of his experienced players didn't step up before the game hence the reason for the squad for match day 1.

His Road Safety counterpart, Akinade Onigbinde, said it was a tough match because the homers were a blend of experienced and young players. 

"We understand that they can hold on to the ball and possessed well. 

"I knew that they won't be able to do the same thing they did in the first half and in the second half, that is the reason we came out at them" Onigbinde said. 

ABS will now travel to Kaduna to lock horns with Kada FC for match day 2 on Saturday.