Bendel Insurance FC of Benin on Saturday recorded a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Kwara United FC of Ilorin in one of the Match Day 13 encounters of the Nigeria Premier Football League.
Insurance, also known as the Benin Arsenal, bounced back from their poor outings to advance their position on the 2024/25 NPFL log.
The hosts went into the match, played behind closed doors at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, sitting at the bottom of the league table.
Though the visitors dominated the game, hoping to replicate the victory recorded in their last away match against Nasarawa United, Insurance, however, showed resilience and redeemed themselves from the poor run in the league.
Insurance found the net in the 18th minute through Nazir Mohammed, following a well-taken right-footed shot that caught the visitors’ goalie, Nurudeen Badmus, napping.
Kwara United, however, restored parity five minutes later as a result of a defensive blunder by Insurance’s Emmanuel Ugwu.
Mohammed recorded his brace in the stoppage time of the first half to put Insurance ahead again, 2-1, into the break.
The Ilorin boys struggled to search for an equaliser in the second half, but Austin Ogunye’s strike in the 85th minute took the scoreline to 3-1, denting United’s hope of pushing for a draw.
In the post-match interview, Insurance Coach, Greg Ikhenoba, standing in following the resignation of Monday Odigie, commended his boys for the victory.
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He promised to work more on the team’s scoring abilities ahead of their Match Day 14 against Nasarawa United in Lafia.
According to Ikhenoba, the team is work in progress and will improve on their chances in subsequent matches.
On his part, Coach Tunde Sanni of Kwara United regretted that his boys fell short of their performance.
“Kwara United play better than this,” he said, insisting that the visitors did not deserve the heavy loss.
Sanni said: “This is a bad day in the office.
“We came in yesterday (Friday) and we cannot say we were fatigued.
“We just lost concentration.
“If not, we cannot lose heavily like this.
“Since the start of the season, we had hardly conceded two goals, let alone three goals.”
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