Abia Warriors’ 2023/2024 Nigeria Premier Football League second stanza opener ended in a stalemate after they were held goalless by visiting Remo Stars Football Club of Ikene in Aba.
The Warriors had lost the reverse fixture by two goals to one in Ikenne, and they approached the week 20 encounter with intensity, in a bid to earn all the three points at stake.
Cheered by the crowd at their new home ground, Enyimba International Stadium, the Coach Erasmus Onuh tutored side took the game to the visitors, forcing them to some desperate defending.
With pressure mounting on the visitors, Emmanuel Onu’s shot from 22 yards was saved by the Keeper after 13 minutes of play. Fourteen minutes later, Warriors should have been in front after Daniel Ijeh won the ball inside the visitors half, raced into the penalty box but preferred to pass the ball to on-rushing Sunday Megwo whose tame effort under pressure was saved by the goalkeeper, Kayode Bankole for a corner to the home side.
At the other end, totally against the run of play, a mix-up between Daniel Wotlai and Collins Nwoburuoke at the heart of Abia Warriors defence allowed Remo’s Sodiq Ismail to race through on goal, and his chip over Warriors’ keeper, Nmecha Johnson bounced off the crossbar for a goalkick to Abia Warriors. It was a warning from the visitors and the home side took note.
With three minutes left to play in the first half, a well orchestrated play saw Sunday Megwo beat his marker from the right flank and squared the ball to Adejoh Ojonugwa to tap into an empty net but the combative number 8 inexplicably skied it from six yards to the relief of the visitors and chagrin to the home bench.
Goalless it ended in the first half, and the Warriors approached the second period very much like the first, but this time, the game became more physical as the visitors threw more men behind to defend in numbers and relied on occasional counter attacks which the home side dealt with.
The more the game progressed, the more desperate Remo Stars became and this led to Ahmed Akinyele being sent off for a second bookable offence in the 84th minute.
Despite the introduction of Samson Obi, Sagir Musa and Ayodele Ezekiel in the second half, Abia Warriors could not find the much needed breakthrough and the match ended in stalemate.
