The Nigerian Professional Football League round up for week 22

Too many people talk foreign football, but here's a new segment and henceforth, weekly, on Absolute Hearts, we talk about the NPFL, the Nigerian Professional Football League, here we talk about players making waves, clubs soaring high and others living up to expectations. And also coaches who know their onions. The NPFL currently concluded its match day 22 sets of matches and here are the results with an away victory recorded by shooting stars of ibadan, walloping mighty heartland at home, only three wins were recorded in this week results and a total of 18goals scored, it also had two goalless draws

The results are :
DOLPHINS 1-1 ABIA WARRIORS
EL KANEMI WARRIORS 2-0 KWARA UNITED
WIKKI TOURISTS 0-0 NASARAWA UNITED
FC TARABA 1-0 AKWA UNITED
GIWA FC 1-1 WARRI WOLVES
BAYELSA UNITED 1-1 KANO PILLARS
ENYIMBA 2-1 LOBI STARS
IFEANYI UBAH 0 - 0 SUNSHINE STARS
HEARTLAND 1 - 3 SHOOTING STARS
SHARKS 1 - 1 ENUGU RANGERS

Sunday 9th of August
Seven matches were played and only 3 wins were recorded, theywere all home wins, El kanemi Warriors won 2-0 over their counterparts Kwara United in their Nigeria Professional Football League match at the Karkanda Stadium on Sunday, the match was played in kastina, which is there make shift stadium. Theiroriginal ground is the Pillars Stadium, in Kano with a Capacity of 10,000spectators. Kabiru Abdullahi opened the scoring for the Borno Army in the 70th minute before Benjamin Turba sealed the result in the 90th minute of the encounter to grab all three points for his side. The win leaves Elkanemi Warriors twelfth on the table after twenty-two matches, four points ahead of Kwara United who have 26 points from the same number of games and their position is fourteenth on the league table. Another win that was recorded was to FC TARABA defeating AKWA UNITED by a lone goal scored by there defender Obinna Nwokolo in the 51st minutes of the game. The win was there fourth win of the season. FC Taraba nearly opened the scoring after the fourth minute, but Stephen Adah’s shot from the edge of the area sailed just wide of the upright. The first half was a scrappy one as both sides misplaced passes and lost chances also. The win couldn't lift taraba FC from their position on the log table in which they still remains the 20th team, they have 19 points from 22games,won 4,lost 11 and drew 7 while Akwa united have 26points also from the same number of games. the last winning of the day comes from the people's elephants who have only lost thrice in the ongoing season, they started the game in the second position. The opening minutes of the game was evenly contested, with the Enyimba having the slight advantage. The Pride of Benue gave Enyimba a close contest but Enyimba went close to scoring twice in the first quarter of the hour with Peter Onyekachi failing to score on both occasions. Ifeanyi George had a half chance for Enyimba in the 32nd minute and delivered the first goal for the six-time league champions. Shortly after another ifeanyi, Ifeanyi Anaemena doubled the lead on the 38th minute, he headed home Onyekachi’s flick from Sikiru Kamaldeen. Lobi Stars started the second half at a much higher tempo, The Pride of Benue gave the People’s Elephants a late scare when Anthony Okpotu scored from the penalty spot after substitute Obioma Arinze was fouled in the area by goalkeeper Femi Thomas. The game ended on a with lobi stars plying up more pressure to get an equalizer but the Enyimba defense stood firm..the win guaranteed Enyimba the top spot with 41points from 22games which included 11wins,8draws and 3loses and the loses came from Kano pillars, gabros FC(now called ifeanyi ubah United) and Warri wolves. Lobi stars are 16th,just above the relegation zone.

Other four matches which were played on the same day ended in a fair share of points, Giwa United and Warri wolves match ended in a one all apiece with goals from Joseph Osadiaye in the 35th minute for Warri Wolves andOcheme Edoh for Giwa United. Giwa united are remains in the sixth position with 35points and Warri Wolves also remain in the third place with their draw having 37 points. Another match played was Kano Pillars against the boys from bayelsa, both teams had to settle for a point when they played a 1-1 draw at the Oghara Township Stadium on Sunday. The reigning Nigeria Professional Football League champions dominated possession and created most of the chances but it was the Restoration Boys who took the lead through John Paul on the 26th minutes before a goal from Bala Mohammed on the 30th drew Pillars level. the match ended with both keepers called to actions on various stages of the game. Kano pillars are in the 6th position with 34points and bayelsa united sit in the bottom half of the on 19th position with 20points. Wikki Tourists were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Nasarawa United at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium on Sunday. The Bauchi based club who started their season on a high are win less in their last four Nigeria Professional Football League games. Wikki Tourists have now accumulated 35 points from a possible 66 with Nasarawa United claiming 30 from a possible 66 after the end of match day 22 in the NPFL. Abia Warriors were held Dolphins to a 1-1 draw in a Nigeria Professional Football League encounter played at the Liberation Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Coming into this clash, the Pride of Rivers languished in the dreaded relegation zone, while Warriors came into the encounter having claimed seven points in their last their matches.

Monday 10th August,2015
The npfl matches continued on Monday, shooting stars and Heartland game which was earlier played on Sunday was stopped because of the heavy downpour of the rain, the referee kicked off from the 25th minute when the match was stopped the previous day and so the matched started and heartland of owerri started the game quite lively but so afterwards, shoting star's Tope Orelope embarrassed HeartLand's goalkeeper Emmanuel Iwu with a 22-metre blinder which sailed into the waiting net,but not quite long fortune Omoniwari got them back on level terms with a headed goal. The first half ended with both teams on a goal apiece. The second half resumed with goals from Cleus Itodo and Nojeem Olukokun. Heartland tried to reduce the deficit through usual suspect Omoniwari but the forward wasn’t able to beat Shooting Star's keeper Danladi Isah for the second time in the game. Shooting stars moved up to 9th position from 10th with 32points and heartland dropped down two places from 6th to 8th with 33points.the remaining two features of the week 22set of matches ended with both teams sharing the points equally. Sharks of port Harcourt against enugu rangers, the match initially started also on Sunday but was also postponed to the next day due to heavy rainfall, but before it was postponed the match began slowly with both teams losing glorious chances, the first half ended on a stalemate. The second half began with a fast tempo, and within minutes 17mins from the commencement of the half, rangers took the lead thorough there number 8,bobby clement who nodded home a free kick to give his team the lead, not quite long the rain began and disrupted the match, the match was stopped by the referee in the 75th min, it was concluded the next day and sharks got back a goal through Christian Pyagbara on the 94th min. There stands on the table is rangers in the tenth position and sharks in the relegation zone sitting in the 17th position. The last match for the match day 22 ends with ifeanyi Ubah United locking horns with Sunshine stars of Akure which ended in a stalemate with both teams failing to find the nets on several occasions. Sunshine stars who were formally in the forefront in the league table due to there daw away to Ifeanyi ubah united are now sitting in the 2nd position with 40points,a point behind league leaders Enyimba FC. Hopefully when the next set of matches on 16th of August,2015,they will be able to regain their former position. The matches to be expected in various locations this weekend includes
Lobi Stars vs FC Taraba 17:00 GMT
Bayelsa United vs Enyimba 17:00 GMT
Nasarawa United vs Heartland FC 17:00 GMT
Akwa United vs Sharks 17:00 GMT
Rangers vs FC Ifeanyiubah 17:00 GMT
Sunshine Stars vs Giwa FC 17:00 GMT
Warri Wolves vs Dolphins 17:00 GMT
Abia Warriors vs El-Kanemi Warriors 17:00 GMT
Kwara United vs Wikki Tourists 17:00 GMT
Kano Pillars vs 3SC 17:00 GMT
I wish you all a happy viewing and you not viewing, stay tuned here to get the reviews of various match day matches.