Abia Warriors head coach Imama Amapakabo was at his best after his side stole a rare 2-1 win over arch rivals, Enyimba in the Abia Derby on Wednesday afternoon.
The Warriors had gone almost six years without a win against their more illustrious brothers but two fine strikes in the first half gave Amapakabo’s side a huge fillip in their in-field war with the People’s Elephant.
Birthday boy Yakub Hammed gave Warriors the lead on the half hour mark when he hammered home a 25-yard effort into the roof of the net after some sloppy play by Enyimba defender Abel James.
With Enyimba struggling at their defensive third, Amapakabo’s wards doubled their lead seven minutes later when Valentine Odoh spurned a badly set offside trap to finish Innocent Gabriel’s pass emphatically.
Enyimba pulled one back in first half stoppage time when Pascal Eze guided home a loose ball after Warriors failed to deal with a corner kick but the equaliser proved elusive in the second half despite Finidi George’s men coming close through substitute Emeka Obioma.
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The last time Abia Warriors recorded a win over Enyimba was in September 2016, a 3-1 win in Umuahia. Amapakabo however downplayed the derby factor but concentrated on the ramifications of Wednesday’s win on the league table.
“Like I told my players, this three points is not different from any other three points. If we don’t win this game, they give us seven points (gap) but we win this game, we get three points but most importantly, we needed to win,” began Amapakabo to www.npfl.ng
He continued: “I knew for sure we were going to be playing against a tactical side and I knew that for us to be able to get the result, we needed to keep the ball as much as we possibly could and we needed to try to get them out of their defence line.
“We were able to do that twice and twice we were able to get our goals although I am not happy with the way we gifted them their goal. You don’t do that against a team like Enyimba but it’s good we were able to hold our own in the end.
Enyimba head coach Finidi George made two changes at half time, bringing in attackers Ekene Awazie and Emeka Obioma (who played for Warriors last term).
Amapakabo admitted that these changes made the visitors better in the second half but his side were able to cope with the situation.
“The second half was tighter. They came out, attacked better and we defended well too. We were able to hold our own. All they threw at us, we were able to stand tall and I think it was an exciting game for whoever that came to the stadium today,” added the former U23 coach.
With Wednesday’s win, Abia Warriors extended their unbeaten run to four matches and will stake that against Sunshine Stars in Ijebu Ode on Sunday while Enyimba host Rangers International in Aba.
Match Details
Abia Warriors XI
22. Vincent Edafe 37. Augustine Njoku 32. Anaeto Odinaka 17. Daniel Wotlai 24. Yeo Chacool 13. Innocent Gabriel 12. Yakub Hammed 11. Nweke Kalu (Mustapha Jibreel 70′) 9. Valentine Odoh (Lukman Bello 48′) 21. Godwin Obaje (Anthony Okemmiri 86′) 7. Paul Samson (Chigozie Umeh 86′)
Subs
31. Chibueze Lambert 2. Umeh Chigozie
28. Bello Lukman 3. Emmanuel Onu 40. Henry Udezuka 10. Anthony Okemmiri 26. Mustapha Jibreel 6. Ozioma Goodluck 25. Udochukwu Anumudu.
Booked: Anaeto Odinaka
Goals: Yakub Hammed 30, Valentine Odoh 37′
Enyimba XI
12. Olorunleke Ojo 32. Bilal Yakubu
3. Daniel Darkwah 23. Adekunle Adeleke
16. Philip Ozor (Emeka Obioma 46′) 18. Pascal Eze 28. Abel James 19. Gabriel Orok (Ekene Awazie 46′) 24. Fatai Abdullahi (Jean-Marie Guera 78′) 25. Victor Mbaoma (Samuel Kalu 89′) 13. Sadiq Abubakar (Godwin Emmanuel 78′)
Subs
21. Sabirou Bassa-Djeri 2. Emmanuel Ampiah 5. Oluwatosin Adegbite 9. Emeka Obioma 10. Jean-Marie Guera 14. Samuel Kalu 30. Ekene Awazie 37. Eze Ekwutoziam 38. Godwin Emmanuel
Booked: Daniel Darkwah, Abel James
Goal: Pascal Eze 45+2′
