Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) table-topping side and 7-time Nigeria champions, Rangers Inter F.C of Enugu on Sunday forced Sporting Lagos FC to a goalless draw in week 34 of the ongoing league season.
With the point earned from the encounter played at the Mobola Johnson Arena, Onikan Stadium, Lagos, the flying Antelopes still topped the league table with 61 points. The flying Antelopes arrived in Lagos on Saturday via a commercial Airline for the game with full optimism to display their potential of ending the season on impressive state.
Efforts by the coach Abdullahi Biffo-led side to undue Rangers did not yield any fruitful result, as they could not convert many chances that came their way during the 90 minutes encounter. However, the coach Fidelis Ilechukwu tutored side gave a good account of themselves but could not kiss the net of the host team, which played more of a defensive game, despite currently being at the corridors of the relegation zone.
Coach Ilechukwu cut his coaching teeth in Lagos with many grassroots teams as well as M.F.M F.C that he led from the lower league to the top league and won a spot to represent the country at the continental scene. Before the match he had said: “We are not by any means underrating our opponent as no team in the top league is a push-over.
“We respect Sporting especially under their new coach, Biffo, whom I respect very much but, we shall approach the match as a cup final believing that our efforts on the pitch will give us the positive result we expect at the end of the encounter.”
NewsBits recalls that in the reverse fixture at the Awka City Stadium, on December 17, 2023, it ended 2-0 for the ‘Flying Antelopes’.
