Abubakar Bukola Saraki Ilorin FC on Wednesday defeated visiting NAF FC 1-0 in a Bet9ja Nigeria National League Match Day 6 encounter.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the match was played at the Kwara Stadium Complex, Ilorin.
The visitors began the game better than their hosts as Kelvin Odenigbo was always troubling the Saraki Boys defence.
Stone Evbuomwan released a split pass from the midfield to Tosin Olabode in far left and crossed into the NAF box for Golden Udoinyang before Okoro Anthony brought him down in the 17th minute.
Evbuomwan stepped forward and converted the penalty, sending Anthony to the wrong direction for ABS’s lone goal in the 21st minute.
The Saraki Boys struggled for most of the first half to cope with the mobility of the NAF players.
The visitors resumed the second stanza of the match better than ABS as Odenigbo pegged the duo of Toyin Alege and Emmanuel Atoe in the heart of the Saraki Boys’ defence to their goal area.
The visitors dominated most of the proceedings in the second half, with Yahaya Ibrahim and Odenigbo troubling the Saraki Boys defence occasionally.
Speaking after the match, ABS Coach, Tunde Sanni, said his team was technically poor and was unsure of what went wrong with his wards.
Sani said: ““We were not just in the game at all, both in the first and the second halves.
“We couldn’t control the game.
“I don’t know why most of my players were off the game today.
“You have watched so many of our matches, this is not the way we play, this is our worst game.”
Sanni explained that fatigue is affecting his plans, hence the need to rotate the squad in his next game against Kogi United.
His NAF FC counterpart, John Basu, said the match wasn’t a bad one though he would not like to apportion blame to the match officials because the encounter has been concluded.
Basu questioned the referee’s decision to award ABS a penalty.
He said: “The game has been won already.
“I have noticed some lapses.
“We will go home and work hard to address the grey areas.”
The Saraki Boys have now garnered seven points from five games played so far.
They will now play Kogi United in Lokoja on Saturday for Match Day 7.
NAN.
