Good morning Everyone,
So we bounced back and shook off Sunday’s disappointing defeat with a 1-0 victory against Akwa United. Austin Onyemaechi in his first appearance for the club saved the day and joined the exclusive club of debutant goal scorers for Enyimba. And I can happily write the sentence I looked forward to writing this morning – “…And Akwa United headed back to Uyo very empty handed indeed”.
We have had a strange relationship with Akwa United. And has it always been bumpy. I recall in the recent past when we had signed Mfon Udoh – (Remember him? Who doesn’t?) and Ezekiel Bassey, there were always disgruntled Enyimba fans – Conspiracy theorists who believed the duo never put in an honest shift whenever they’re playing against their former club. Of course that is all crap but such is the nature of our contests with them – A true combative fixture – your proverbial banana skin of fixtures.
So at the back of what transpired on Sunday, I was worried about how this young team would cope. Add the little spice of two of our stars – Daga and Jephtah away on National Duty, there was the “I told you so” tugging at the back of my mind especially as the game wore on.
Coach Yema had Benard Ovoke, Akanni Elijah and Atule all in the starting XI as well as Skipper Alalibo who was making his return after being absent for the past few weeks. After an initial spell by Enyimba the game quickly set into the dogfight many predicted it to be. While 13 attempts were on goal, only four were on target- one of which produced the winning goal.
Austin, signed from that lot in Enugu, needed just 18 minutes to prove his worth off the bench, when he scored off Imo Obot’s corner kick on 74 minutes. The 18-year-old was named in a matchday squad for the first time since joining us in August.
He had scored twice in five league appearances last season for Rangers and I really really loved his post match comments – stating that his dream of playing for the “biggest” club in the land has been realised. Now he is fired to replicate his debut outing in subsequent matches if he gets the chance to play.
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” It’s my dream to come here and play for Enyimba. It’s the biggest team in Nigeria. I am glad score my first goal today, The fans should expect 100 per cent commitment from me anytime I am called upon to play. I hope to score more goals .”
Amen to that, Son. The gaffer himself was also one very relieved man – He was happy that they got “the job done” despite Akwa United pushing them to the limit. Yema admitted that he always knew it was going to be quite a task to see off the Akwa Ibom club.
” We knew it wasn’t gonna be easy, but the most important thing was getting the job done, ” said Yema.
The gaffer did say a few more things in his post match comments which did appear quite interesting. We have a few more days to churn over that. In the meantime, we will soak up the win for a lil bit more before shifting our attention to another home match against Katsina United in Aba on Sunday.
Back tomorrow
‘EnyimbaEnyi
