OLADAPO ON TARGET AS ENYIMBA SKIP PAST KATSINA UNITED

Austin Oladapo opened his season’s account with yet another strike from outside the box as Enyimba overcame Katsina United 2-1 at the Enyimba Stadium.

In a game largely punctuated by stoppages and infringements, Oladapo proved again to be a clean hitter from distance as his low drive from the edge of the box broke the lock just before the break.

The midfielder was fouled by Razak Aliyu at the edge of the box, and although his freekick was repelled by the wall, there was no stopping his rebound which sped straight to the bottom corner.

The visitors however returned to par on the hour when Somiari Alalibo diverted a corner kick into his own net in an unfortunate turn of events.

This time though, the parity did not last for long as Emeka Obioma converted from the spot eight minutes later to secure Enyimba’s second win in three days.

The People’s Elephant have with the win, leapt above Enugu Rangers – who travel to Dakkada on Sunday – to third on the standing.

“A STRANGE GAME”

Finidi George, in his post match interview, described the game as “strange”.

The coach cited the several stoppages which he said stopped his team from getting into their rhythm.

“For me it was a strange game. It was not a free flowing game. First half (there were) too many stops and it didn’t give us that rhythm. They stopped the game so much that we couldn’t have our rhythm. 

“We scored a goal and I thought maybe in the second half we could have come out quickly and try and see if we could score another goal but it didn’t happen until they got their goal and it became a marathon. 

“But at the end of the day we are glad we could score a second goal. I will take the three points but I think upfront we should have a little bit of bite. That is what we’ve been talking about this whole period.”