Enyimba’s bid to move out of the relegation zone failed following a shock 1-0 loss to Doma United in the rescheduled Match Day four fixture of the 2023/24 Nigeria Premier Football League yesterday.
The defending champions who have been struggling of late and have lost their third league game this season fell to a 17th-minute strike from Hilary Ekawu at the Pantami Stadium, Gombe.
The ‘Savannah Tigers’ as Doma United is known started the game with intensity to earn a win over the visiting ‘Elephants’. Their early dominance saw Ekawu blasting home a beauty after brilliant exchanges of passes which ended with Emmanuel Ekpeyong feeding Ekawu the final pass inside the box.
Efforts by the visitors to at least secure a point failed just as they ended the game with 10 men.
Following this win, Doma United have moved into the fourth position with 14 points while Enyimba remained in the relegation zone and placed 18th with seven points.
In the same vein, Heartland of Owerri yesterday threw up their chance to secure their first win of the season after throwing away a 2-0 lead with fifteen minutes on the clock.
Heartland had found themselves in the lead after Promise Anyanwu scored in the 11th minute.
Stunned by this goal, the visitors turned on the heat as they practically camped in their opponents’ half while searching for the equaliser but were shut out till the first half ended.
In the second half, Bayelsa made some tactical changes which didn’t yield results immediately as they fell to another goal in the 75th minute.
However, the visitors refused to give up as they got a goal in the 83rd minute through Nneoyi Ofem set up nervy moments. In what was a shocker, within sixty seconds, Bayelsa United got the second goal through the league’s top scorer, Robert Mizo as the game ended 2-2.
Heartland remain rooted to league base with 5 points while Bayelsa United are above on 19th position with 7 points.