Dakkada of Uyo Head coach, Umar Danlami is looking forward to the return of the side to their Uyo home ground
By Emma Ogbuehi
Umar Danlami, the Head Coach of Dakkada of Uyo is looking forward to the return of the side to their Uyo home ground after serving the three-match banishment to Benin.
The Club was ordered to play a minimum of three home matches in Benin following breach of security by fans and a technical assistance in a MatchDay 3 fixture.
After a scoreless draw in their fixture against Enugu Rangers on Matchday 9 of the 2021/2022 Nigeria Professional Football League, (NPFL) campaign in Benin City on Sunday, Danlami praised the players for adapting well to their place of sanction.
“We did well,” Danlami noted. “Naturally, it’s football. I think we did well. And the boys responded very well to the change.”
“They improved everyday here. I think it’s okay.” Hopefully, Dakkada would play their home games in the top flight at home in Uyo”, he told www npfl.ng
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The match was a cagey affair in the opening 35 minutes as the two teams struggled to create clear cut chances to score. The first real effort on goal came in the 38th minutes, when Ikechukwu Eboko hit a shot that flew narrowly above the woodwork.
Two minutes later, Enugu Rangers came close to breaking the dreadlock, as Christian Nnaji connected perfectly with a corner kick inside the box, but headed directly at Dakkada goalie Thomas Omokhudu.
It was nearly looking increasingly certain that the visitors would go into the lead before the halftime mark when deep into added time, Christian Madi made a run into the box and fired narrowly wide to leave scores goalless at halftime.
The second half started with the two sides cautiously knocking the ball around. After about ten minutes into the half, Omokhudu was forced to draw a save from a daring effort from Rangers’ forward kenechukwu Agu. He parried the ball out for a corner kick. The resultant corner kick was quickly taken, but Ikechukwu Eboko’s header was easily gathered by Dakkada goalie Omokhudu, who stood firmly on his line.
Two minutes later, there was a standing ovation when Enugu Rangers brought on Ejike Uzoenyi for Ikechukwu Eboko, for his second game of the current NPFL campaign since the 2013 AFCON winner returned home from his foreign sojourn. In the 77th minutes, the visitors thought they had scored, after Nnaji curled the ball through a wall of white Dakkada shirts heading towards goal, only for the outstretched palms of Omokhudu to parry it for a corner kick.
Dakkada FC had their own response to that five minutes later, when Pederson Ayong struck a rebound from a set piece situation on the edge of the box few inches above the woodwork.
Enugu Rangers’ Seidu Adamu saw the ball fell kindly for him inside the box deep into added time and flashed the ball few inches wide. That turned out to be final piece of the action to leave the game goalless at the blast the full-time whistle.
