Lobi Stars on Wednesday played a one-all draw in the week 28 fixture against Sporting Lagos at the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium in Lagos to remain a serious contender for this year’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) title.
The Makurdi-based side went into the tricky contest with the intention to pick the maximun points suffered a setback when former Kano Pillars and Remo Stars man, Junior Lokosa, connected an inch perfect pull out in the 31st minute to put Sporting FC in front.
The hosts protected their lead as they thwarted every attempt made by Lobi Stars to equalise before the break.
On resumption, coach Eugene Agabe injected fresh legs upfront for more offensive play and his tactical decision paid off when substitute Stanley Oganbor assisted Samuel Tiza to finish calmly beyond Sporting goalkeeper Christian Nwoke in the 59th minute to bring his side back into the match.
The ‘Shoe Get Size’ boys drew inspiration from their equalizer with Oganbor leading the onslaught in search of the winning goal, but the missed chances denied them another goal that would have wrapped up the three points for the ‘Yes Father boys’ as the week 28 fixture ended in a 1-1 draw.
The crucial away point has earned the ‘Pride of Benue’ 48 points from 28 games, though coach Agagbe’s men have dropped to third position on the table due to inferior goal difference after Enyimba white-washed Kano Pillars 5-0 to go second on the log.
In his post match interview, Head coach Agagbe lauded his boys for their wonderful performance and charged them to sustain the tempo.
“I commend the boys for putting in a wonderful performance which gave us this important result and I charge them to sustain the tempo so that we would get even better results on the road to achieve our target in the end,” said the former international.
Lobi Stars will return home to welcome reigning champions, Enyimba International on matchday 29 at Lafia City stadium.
