Enyimba produce big second half performance to see off Lobi Stars

Enyimba had to dig deep into their resources before putting up a second half performance that ensured they overcome Lobi Stars 2-1 at the Enyimba Stadium in Aba in a Matchday 28 fixture of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) on Saturday.

Namesakes, Samuel Kalu and Samuel Stone produced the goods for the People’s Elephant when they scored in the 52nd and 86th minute of the contest before Samuel Ganda pulled one back for Lobi Stars deep in added time to make a day of Samuels dominating a football match.

The day of Samuels only took centre stage after a barren first 45 minutes, but an elated Enyimba head coach Finidi George felt relieved and told the media it was “a strange” game.

“Though happy with the three points, I find this game a strange one as we were not aggressive enough, you could see we allowed Lobi to play the ball and they made it difficult for us despite creating the more chances and not taking them. We’re happy in victory and we’ll continue to build to see how we can pick something away,” said George.

Having struggled at home at the beginning of the season and not scoring enough goals despite his team creating several chances, George is relieved as he praised the attitude of his players towards games in the second round.

“The players are focused and motivated knowing what is are stake so we must commend them. All the players are in it,” he said.

On the chances of a late surge towards continental spot, he expressed optimism in the players to do the needful and stated that they will approach the rest of the season one game at a time. Enyimba’s final run-in in the final 10 matchdays begins with the next game against Katsina United that has a former Enyimba coach Usman Abdallah in their fold.

“If we continue this way, we definitely have a chance. You never can tell but we’ll take each game as they come. Just like the game against Akwa United, we’ll start working from Monday on how to get a good result against Katsina United and our first option is not to lose,” he disclosed.

Enyimba have 42 points from 28 games and are slowly climbing up the ladder while this result means Lobi Stars are gradually being dragged to the relegation zone with just two points separating them and those in the relegation spot having played a game more.