By David Ngobua & Jide Olusola
Nigeria’s representatives, Rivers United and Plateau United were in imperious form yesterday as they recorded massive wins against Libyan oppositions in the first leg of the Confederation Cup playoff in Port-Harcourt and Abuja respectively.
Both NPFL clubs were relegated from the CAF Champions League to the Confederation Cup after losing their second round preliminary round matches to North African teams.
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It was, therefore, sweet revenge for Rivers United, who suffered a crushing 7-2 aggregate loss to Wydad as they walloped El Nasr of Libya 5-0 at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium in Port-Harcourt.
The NPFL title holders began the contest on a good note when Ebube Duru in the 12th minute opened the scoring and three minutes later, Kazie Enyinnaya doubled the lead for the ‘Pride of Rivers’.
The trio of Nyima Nwagua, Chibuzor Ohawume and Joseph Onoja missed glaring chances afterwards but the blushes were spared when Paul Acquah made it 3-0 just before half time.
And in the 64th minute, Duru scored his second of the day from the penalty spot to make it 4-0 before Malachi Ohawume completed the rout of the visitors with the fifth in the 64th minute.
At the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, the adopted home of Plateau United, the 2022 NPFL runners up broke the deadlock against another Libyan side, Al Akdar, in the 27th minute when Mustapha Ibrahim ‘Yuga’ nodded in from a corner.
With five minutes remaining for the first half to end, Ifeanyi Emmanuel doubled the lead from a Haggai Katoh’s assist.
At the restart of the second half, Al Akdar players became more enterprising with the hosts dropping energy.
However, in the 75th minute, Albert Hilary scored a beautiful acrobatic goal after a far reaching throw-in from stand-in captain, Daniel Itodo, caused some commotion in the opponents’ box to make it 3-0
It was a nervy finish for the home-side as with four minutes to go, the visitors pulled one back after some poor defensive play but normalcy was restored with almost the last kick of the game when Hilary scored his brace to end the game 4-1.
The Nigerian representatives will take a trip to Libya in a fortnight for the second leg as winners on aggregate over two legs would qualify for the group stage of this year’s Confederation Cup.
