3SC bounce back, beat Akwa 3-0

Olufemi Atoyebi and Idris Adesina

Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan on Sunday beat Akwa United at the Olalekan Salami Sports Complex in Ibadan marking a glorious return for coach Gbenga Ogunbote.

Ogunbote left the club at the end of last season after rescuing the club from the jaws of relegation. This term, he replaced coach Kadiri Ikhana who left after an uneventful half season stay at the club.

After losing their second consecutive match on Sunday, Enyimba captain, Chinedu Udoji, expressed optimism that the team will work hard to regain their domestic form.

Sunday Adetunji scored the first of the 3SC goals in the 17th minute before Ajani Ibrahim added the second in the 44th minute.

The impressive Adetunji took the game beyond the visitors when he beat goalkeeper Bassey Akpan for the third goal in the 61st minute. Apart from the stellar display of Adetunji, youngest player in 3SC, Fawaz Otun, 17, also had an impressive game, starring for 80 minutes. Ogunbote also paraded new boy from Ikorodu United, Chukwu Ipeazu, who contributed in a great way to the success of the team on Sunday.

Fans at the stadium were unanimous that with consistent display like the one witnessed against Akwa, 3SC would escape relegation. Before the match, they were 17th in the table and they had lost their last two matches to Wikki Tourists in Bauchi (4-0) and Warri Wolves in Ibadan (2-1).

Media Officer of the club, Jubril Arowolo, told our correspondent that the display was a response to fans’ criticism.

“We got criticised when things were not going on well and we took it in good fate. The return of Ogunbote has brought hope to the club’s fight against relegation,” he said.

In the other game, Enyimba had lost 3-1 to Wikki Tourists in a rescheduled match on June 1 before losing 2-1 away to Nasarawa United on Sunday.

Ifeanyi George had put Enyimba ahead in Lafia but two goals from Bashir secured the three points for the Solid Miners and condemned the People’s Elephant to their second defeat in the space of a week.

The results placed the champions fifth in the league with 30 points while Nasarawa are 15th with 24 points. But Udoji told our correspondent on Sunday that the team would not relinquish the title at the end of the season.

He said, “It is quite sad that we didn’t get any point from our two games in a week but we are not losing sight of the fact that we want to defend our title.

“We are still four points behind the leaders of the league and in football anything can happen. What we need to do is make sure we don’t lose as much matches as we have lost now.”

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