“Although we won but the performance of Osun United was superb. They gave us a good fight from the beginning till the end which showed that they are tactically a good side that does not belong to the lower cadre”.
That was the remark of Shooting Stars Coach, Yinka Popoola, popularly called ” Gullit ” after an interesting derby encounter between the two sister states’ football clubs, which ended 2-0 in favour of the host.
The match, which was played at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba Ibadan witnessed thousands of supporters from the “Pace Setters” who thronged into the stadium in large numbers as well as hundreds of Osun United supporters who came en masse from the State of Omoluabi.
Opeoluwa Olufemi gave the host the lead in the 13th minute when he rose above United defenders to meet the free kick cooly taken by Ayobami Junior and nodded in, to send 3sc supporters into a wide jubilation.
Osun United took control of the game afterwards with masterclass offensive, midfield performance by the new signing, Emmanuel Peters and veteran Chinedu Emmanuel, who were backed up by Adio Yusuf and Alaji Rasaq to halt the moves of 3sc attacking force marshalled by Ifegwu Ojukwu and Olufemi Olawale.
Gafar Olafimihan and Victor Okeji also had good runs and were able to beat ageing Waheed Omololu but their efforts were saved by Lucky Jimoh in goal for 3sc.
Oluyole Warriors got back into the game early enough in the second half and were rewarded by the referee with a second goal in the 50th minute through Anene Francis, who was adjudged to have beat the offside trap perfectly set by Suraj Sodiq and Habila David.
Osun United continued their tiki-taka display and got some flashes late on but Gafar was unlucky to add to his 3 league goals as he was snubbed by the Lagosian referee when brought down in the box by Omololu.
Several other attempts by the two sides were unsuccessful while Osun United shotstopper, Anderson Okekem was the hero in the game with many one-on-one classical saves to deny Ojukwu, Olufemi, Junior and Francis.
With the results, the Oluyole Warriors have extended their lead on the group B1 to 13 points in 5 games, 4 points above the second placed Giant Brillars while Osun United are still occupying the bottom spot with a solitary point.
The Omoluabi Giants will welcome Giant Brillars to the Osogbo Township Stadium on Saturday in the week 7 fixtures while Shooting Stars are on the road to Yenagoa to face Bayelsa United. Abia Comets are drawn bye.
