FC Ifeanyiubah shocked hosts Rangers International scoring two goals in the dying minutes of regulation time to claim all three points in a highly entertaining Oriental Derby at the Nnamdi azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.
Both teams started cautiously, with Rangers having the upper hand in the opening exchanges.
Only Rasaq Adegbite’s profligacy was to blame for Rangers not taking an early lead.
Enraged by his wastefulness, Rangers technical crew withdrew him and replaced him with Evans Iyoro before the first half ended.
They were made to pay for their wastefulness when in the 42nd minute captain Okey Odita’s careless back pass fell to FC Ifeanyiubah’s Chukwude Stephen who calmly lobbed the ball over onrushing Rangers keeper Chigozie Agbim to give the visitors the lead against the run of play and scores remained that way till half time.
Upon resumption of play, Rangers made a tactical gamble, pulling out left-back Alex Emenike Nkume in the 50th minute and throwing in striker Bobby Clement as they searched for the elusive goals.
The gamble seemed to pay dividends 10 minutes later when Rangers scored two goals in two minutes from man of the match, Odah Onoriode, and Godwin Aguda in the 60th and 62nd minutes to turn the table against the visitors.
The quick fire goals seemed to dampen the spirit of the visitors as their hosts started stringing together passes and dominating possession, but if Enugu fans thought they had all three points in the kitty, they did not reckon with the visitors’ version of two goals in a two-minute blitz.
As the visitors chased the game, Daniel Amokachi in charge of his first game as FC Ifeanyiubah’s technical adviser, threw in fleet-footed Oladapo Austin and Okereke Maduabuchi and this inspired substitutes combined to steal all three points when both benefited from loss of concentration and defensive recklessness by Rangers to score two goals in the last two minutes of the game to secure a double for FC Ifeanyiubah over Rangers International.
First in the 88th minute a shot hit the Rangers crossbar and rebounded into play for Oladapo to finish with a fine overhead kick, while Rangers defenders watched flat-footed. Soon after, Okereke tapped into an empty net with Agbim and his defenders nowhere to be found to hand Amokachi a first win and a very precious one on his debut game as FC IfeanyiUbah technical adviser.