It was a tale of contrasting fortunes for two debutants as goalkeeper Danladi Isah on his debut inspired Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan to a 3-1 win over hosts Heartland, who themselves has a debutant, Fortune Omoniwari, scoring their consolatory goal.
The Match Day 22 game in the Glo Premier League, which was the first of the doubleheader decided at the Rojenny Stadium, Onitsha, Anambra State, was called off in the 26th minute on Sunday afternoon and was concluded on Monday morning in a nice atmosphere for a good game of football.
Shooting Stars went in front on 36 minutes courtesy of Tope Orelope’s strike from outside the area.
The in-form midfielder pounced after Cletus Itodo’s effort had been blocked by a Heartland defender.
Heartland goalie, Emmanuel Iwu, got a hand to Orelope’s strike as it went into the bottom left corner but was unable to prevent Orelope from netting for the third time in two games.
Heartland’s quest for an early equalizer suffered a setback in the 40th minute when Julius Ubido, who had a clash of heads with teammate, Fortune Omoniwari, moments earlier, was replaced by Ebere Odiche.
The Naze Millionaires however evened the scores within the seconds added on when Fortune Omoniwari, who had been at the centre of every good thing Heartland produced, jabbed home a cut-back by Kingsley Ajaero.
Former Sharks winger Omoniwari, raced and perfected his time and finished into the roof of the net to end the first half at 1-1.
With just two minutes into the second half, Heartland went behind again through one of Shooting Stars’ recent signings, Cletus Itodo.
The former Enyimba midfielder, not one of the tallest on the pitch, beat a badly set offside trap to head home a Yinka Adedeji free kick.
Shooting Stars maintained their organization and composure and were also helped in difficult moments by their new goalkeeper, Isah, who was having a memorable debut against his former club Heartland.
The visitors took the game beyond their hosts in the 64th minute when Iwu made a rare mistake, spilling Ajani Ibrahim’s effort for Najeem Olukokun to head home from close range.
That summarized Heartland’s performance on the day, coupled with the superb organizational approach of their visitors.
Victory takes Shooting Stars to 9th position on the log, just one point adrift of their victim, Heartland.
The win represents not just the first away win for Shooting Stars this season, it is also the first away win in the second round of the Glo Premier League.