Abia Warriors have remained winless in the ongoing 2020/21 Nigeria Professional Football League as they lost 2-1 to Akwa United in the Match Day 3 fixture.
Ndifreke Effiong opened the scoring in the 6th minute from a close range after Ikechukwu Nwani’s effort was allowed through a sea of players.
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Two minutes later, the in-form striker almost made it 2 nil after his efforts from 25 yards rattled the cross bar.
In the 26th minute, Abia Warriors’ Nzube Anaezemba almost equalised for his side but his acrobatic volley was brilliantly kept out by Akwa’s goalkeeprm Jean Efala.
However, a minute later, the visitors got the equalising goal through Ibukun Harrison who shot into the roof of the net.
Both teams tried to score before the first half ended but were unable to do with Akwa Utd having more shots on target than their visitors.
At the restart of the second half, Wisdom Fernando and Ubong Friday came in for Samuel Amadi and Morice Chukwu.
The two substitutes changed the complexity of the game as they combined with Ndifreke to cause more damage to the visitors.
The good passage of ball between the trio led to a penalty when Abia Warriors goalkeeper, Vincent Edafe fouled Wisdom Fernando inside the box.
Ndifreke confidently stepped up and scored to give his side the lead for the second time in the game as he remains the only Akwa United player to have scored more than a goal in a match since the start of last season,
Still looking charged up against his former side, Ndifreke again struck the woodwork as his effort from 20 yards came off the frame.
Chances were created by both teams but the ball refused to go in as the game ended 2-1.
With this victory, Akwa United have moved up to 5th position on four points from three games and have remained unbeaten in their last six games against Abia Warriors who remain winless with no point and are languishing in the 20th position on the table.
