…as Benin Arsenal face Remo Stars in last group game
The task before Bendel Insurance FC of Benin to secure qualification for the Nigeria Professional Football League has become huge and more complicated as the Benin Arsenal shared points with Ekiti Utd following a Controversial penalty kick awarded their opponents to tie the game at 1-1 after regulation time .
It was their second game of Group B of the Super 8 tournament played today at the Cathedral, Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu.
The Benin Arsenal will now have to dig deep to beat Remo Stars convincingly, by at least 2-0 to stand a chance of scaling through the high hurdles .
Bendel Insurance FC were in control of larger part of the second half of the game after a barren first half and their hard work paid off when substitute Imade Osarenkhoe broke the deadlock for his side following a brilliant pass from another substitute Kingsley Onovo to put Insurance in front of Ekiti side.
The unfortunate happened five minutes later when one of the assistant referees for the match made the Centre referee to change his earlier decision ,awarding a corner kick to Ekiti Utd after a goal mouth scramble to a Controversial penalty against Insurance which Pius Ojo converted to equalize for Ekiti United.
The referees’ bad call however attracted wide condemnation by majority of football followers at the Stadium but that could not change the result .
Insurance with one point, will face Remo Stars in the last group game at the Cathedral, Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium tomorrow (Saturday).
Time is 3:00 while Shooting Stars of Ibadan who defeated Insurance 2-1 in match day one are also scheduled to lock horns with Ekiti Utd simultaneously at another venue.
Remo Stars and Shooting Stars with four points from two matches need only a draw to get promotion tickets for the NPFL .
In the northern conference group(A), Gombe United earlier today defeated DMD by a lone goal to have an edge and a draw with Niger Tornadoes will be enough for both teams to qualify . They only played for 25 minutes to conclude their match which was postponed on Wednesday evening due to heavy rain fall.
Both Gombe United and Niger Tornadoes with 4 points each will clash tomorrow and a draw will give both of them qualification for the NPFL.
El-Kanelmi Warriors and DMD on the other hand will also engage themselves in the last group game and the two matches will be played simultaneously at 10: AM at different venues tomorrow.
The NNL Super 8 and overall league winners will be determined on Sunday with the final match scheduled for the Cathedral,Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium.
