The 2019/20 Nigeria National League started on a very good note with mixed results.
Match Day 1 withnesed both home wins as well as draws in the various groups of the Northern and Southern Confrences which football analysts described as a good beginning and a pointer to a positive football season.
The results of the NNL match day 2 so far with particular reference to Abia Comets F.C. vs. 3 SC clash at the Enyimba Int’l. Stadium on Saturday 30/11/2019 went further to proving that there is hope for Nigerian football.
The visiting team 3 SC had unhindered access into the Enyimba Int’l. Stadium on Friday.
On Saturday the pre-match meeting equally took place same place in a convivial atmosphere.
The match proper was a delight to watch. 3 SC scored 2 beautiful goals in the first 35 minutes of the first half of the game to announce to their host that they were not in Abia for a tea party.
However, Abia Comets F.C. was able to pull 1 back before the half hour mark.
On resumption of hostilities in the second half, the host drew levels but the more enterprising 3 SC players got the upper hand as they scored the 3rd and the winning goal thus bringing the game to 2-3 at regulation time.
From what was displayed in the field of play, everybody saw that 3 SC was the better of the two teams and they deserved their victory.
This the home team saw and accepted the result in good faith.
Kudos must be given to the match officials for an unbiased officiating, the Abia State F.A. for providing adequate security and other necessary logistics for a hitch-free match, the home team for being a good host ans exhibiting the spirit of sportsmanship in a home loss as well as for the visitors for being magnanimous in victory.
The message to learn from this historic encounter is that we all should contribute to make Nigerian football grow.
The “must win at home syndrome” must be jettisoned. Football clubs should recruit the best legs in the various departments of the game so as not to rely or depend on referees for victories.
The good officiating witnessed so far in the new season should be sustained above all, Clubs should make it a point of duty to educate their fans properly on the need behave well irrespective of the outcome of matches while I urge the NNL not to hesitate in sanctioning any erring Club-side whose fans engage in any sort of holiganism just as was done to Nassarawa Utd. F.C. recently.
As we in Abia Comets F.C. congratulate 3 SC of Ibadan on their deserved victory and wish them a safe trip back home, we equally wish to warn other teams in our group that the Lion is now wounded and will come out fighting in a spprtsmanly way though.
All in all, Nigerian football is the winner.
