11 May 2011
Defending champions Enyimba will test the championship credentials of Dolphin of Port Harcourt Wednesday, when the second half of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) begins.
Two-time champions Dolphin are top of the table with 43 points from 19 matches and have sat at the summit for most of the first round of the competition.
Enyimba, on the other hand, have struggled in their title defence and are now 10th in the standings with 28 points, 15 points adrift of their opponents on Wednesday.
In the first half of the campaign, the Port Harcourt outfit came from behind to beat Enyimba 2-1.
Both teams will be without key stars midfielders Chidi Osuchukwu and Abduljaleel Ajagun as well as goalkeeper Sunday Rotimi are away from Dolphin on national team duty, while defender Nnaemeka Anyanwu remains out injured for Enyimba and Emmanuel Anyanwu is in Korea with the countrys Under-20s.
It is therefore most likely that Chinedu Udoji and Ekene Iwuorie will again man Enyimba central defence as they did during the weekend CAF Champions League clash against Al-Ittihad of Libya.
Midfielder Christopher Chigozie, a mid-season signing from Ocean Boys, is expected to make his debut for Dolphin in Aba.
Fourth-placed Warri Wolves will also be aiming to avenge the 1-0 loss they suffered at Kaduna United on the final day of action in the first round.
Kaduna United are third on the table with 33 points, a point ahead of Warri Wolves.
Shooting Stars were the biggest underachievers in the first half of this season and pressure is now mounting on coach Fatai Amoo to begin to deliver the results after a rather patchy showing that has seen them in 14th place with 22 points.
They were unlucky to lose at Ocean Boys in week 19 and can buttress this point with victory against the same team in Abeokuta.
The kick-off of this match has been delayed till 6pm.
3SC have grappled with controversies during the recess star striker Gbolahan Salami issued a quit notice before he rescinded it, while general manager Mutiu Adepoju has been at loggerheads with his fellow management staff over a new contract.
Former international and board member, Felix Owolabi, appears to have fuelled more controversies when he revealed that coach Amoo will no longer be given a free hand to tinker the Oluyole Warriors.
The availability of hard working midfielder Raphael Musa is also in doubt as his agent has lodged a complaint with the NPL over the non-payment of his transfer fee.
Musa featured for Lobi Stars before he joined Shooting Stars and has so far played 14 games for the Ibadan club.
According to a club source, 3SC have paid only 250,000 naira out of the sum of 1.5 million naira agreed as fee for the transfer of the player.
“The agent, Kunle Babalola, has tried everything to get paid, but had to resort to the NPL when it became obvious that they did not want to pay even when they had paid the agents of players like Sunday Adeyemi, Richard Amadi and the new goalkeeper from Kaduna United, Emmanuel David, disclosed the source.
“The agent is therefore asking the NPL to prevent 3SC from playing Musa until he has been fully paid.
Ocean Boys, who will be led by goalkeeper Igboro Akpakpan, have failed to hold on to as many as nine of their stars during the break. Besides Chigozie who has left for Dolphin, striker Michael Andrew is now at Sharks, Bola Lekan has moved to Sunshine Stars and Anthony Obawola has joined Kwara United.
There are huge doubts over the future of highly-rated midfielder Ayo Saka and star goalkeeper Femi Thomas. Both players are yet to resume training with the club, but officials are confident Olympic international Thomas could at least be on the bench against 3SC.
Dolapo Omotayo from 3SC, striker John Obika from the youth ranks as well as the Warri Wolves duo of Peter Ebibor and Taye Alonge have now teamed up with the team from Brass.
The only match that will not be played Wednesday is that involving Bukola Babes and Sunshine Stars in Bauchi because the Akure club are just back from a CAF Confederation Cup game in Burkina Faso.
The match will now be played at a later date.
Week 20 Fixtures
Tornadoes vs Kwara United
Plateau United vs Lobi
Gombe vs Crown
Sharks vs Heartland
3SC vs Ocean Boys
Rangers vs JUTH FC
Kano Pillars vs Zamfara
Warri Wolves vs Kaduna United
Enyimba vs Dolphin
Bukola Babes vs Sunshine Stars (Postponed till further notice)
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