7 March 2011
Sunshine Stars have failed to close the gap on table-topping Dolphin after they were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Crown FC in the Nigeria Premier League.
The Sunshine Stars remain in second spot with 33 points, but they were expected to win on Sunday at struggling Crown to at least cut back an eight-point lead opened by Dolphin the previous day.
However, the home team would pull off an encouraging result against the star-studded Akure club to offer hope they could soon get out of the drop zone.
The only bright spot for Sunshine Stars was that Ajani Ibrahim consolidated his leadership in the goals race when he netted his ninth goal of the campaign in the 35th minute, before Crown restored parity minutes later.
This was something of a derby and so it was always going to be a difficult game, Ibrahim told MTNFootball.com.
Yes, we lost the chance to close in on Dolphin, but we will continue to fight to be champions till the very last match of the season.
On the day, Sunshine laboured to a draw in Ilaro, Warri Wolves barely beat Shooting Stars by a first-half penalty goal to climb to third place with 32 points.
Shooting Stars passing game was eye-catching and they could even have taken the lead against their hosts as early as the second minute, when Raphael Musas hopeful cross skimmed off the crossbar with goalkeeper Ambrose Vanzekin stranded.
However, man-of-the-match Chimezie Mba came closest to putting Warri Wolves ahead in the 38th minute when his flicked-on header off a free kick from the left crashed against the post.
And two minutes later, 3SC teenaged goalkeeper Abiodun Akande making his NPL debut fouled a goal-bound Gift Atulewa on his way to goal for a penalty. The former youth international dusted himself up to tuck away the spot kick.
Shooting Stars fought on after the break and the dribble runs of petite substitute Yinka Morenkeji often unsettled the Wolves defence, but the home team held on for the full points.
We missed several chances, but good enough we have got the three points, pointed out Wolves handler Paul Aigbogun.
But we have to also give credit to the other team, who were a bit unlucky.
His 3SC counterpart, Fatai Amoo, again moaned his teams finishing.
Our problem still persists putting the ball inside the net. In terms of performance, we controlled the game, but we also need to score goals. We did enough to get at least a draw, said Amoo, who will now be under increasing pressure as the Ibadan club hover around the relegation zone.
Heartland moved a place up in the standings after recording the biggest win of the weekend with a 4-0 thumping of Ocean Boys.
Midfield star Ikechukwu Mosquito Ibenegbu netted a brace with defender Benjamin Francis and Bello Kofarmata providing the other goals as new Dutch coach Lowejik de Kruif watched on from the stands.
There were also 1-0 home wins for Kaduna United, Niger Tornadoes and Lobi Stars against Bukola Babes, Enyimba and Plateau United, respectively.
Kaduna are now joint fourth with Bukola Babes on 30 points, Lobi occupy 12th place and Enyimba slipped with eighth position on 28 points.
Plateau are second from bottom with 13 points.
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