Rivers, Plateau lose as Akwa United, Enyimba go goalswire

Defending champions, Akwa United, thrashed Nasarawa United 6-1 in one of the matches of the NPFL in Uyo… yesterday

The top two teams on the 2021/2022 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) table, Rivers United and Plateau United, were yesterday, beaten on the same day for the first time this season as MatchDay 24 reached an enthralling climax.

With 17 goals scored in five matches on Wednesday, 15 more were scored in the other five decided yesterday to account for 32 goals, the highest scored on a single MatchDay this season.

Quite poignantly though, the least scoring games in the MatchDay involved the two top-scoring sides in the league, who were running neck-in-neck in the race to the title. Both teams conceded first-half goals in their away ties and never recovered.

At the Ondo State Sports Complex in Akure, Sunshine Stars made it a sweet return back home from Ijebu-Ode where they had sojourned and made hay while the sun shone, beating Rivers United 1-0 courtesy of Ugochukwu Leonard Aputazie’s fifth-minute strike.

The defeat ended Rivers United’s 12-match unbeaten run and marked only their second loss this season.

The only positive for Rivers United would be that their four-point cushion over Plateau United still subsists after the Jos based side went down 0-1 at basement team Heartland FC. Homeboy Chukwudi Nwaodu scored the game’s only goal in the 16th minute to render Fidelis Ilechukwu’s return to the Dan Anyiam Stadium fruitless.

While the win moved Heartland off the bottom for the first time in the second stanza of the season, MFM FC dropped to 20th after a shocking 0-2 loss at home to Wikki Tourists in Lagos. 

Abubakar Aliyu’s second-minute goal and Salomon Chigoziem’s effort three minutes to the end all but put