2024/2025 NPFL Match Day 14: Ikorodu City FC maintains unbeaten momentum with win over El-Kanemi Warriors

Posted : 27 November 2024

Aside from the commanding 2-0 win by El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri in the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Match Day 14, Ikorodu City FC once again kept a clean sheet against another top-four team.

The Oga Boys had earlier defeated the dethroned league leaders, Rivers United FC, 2-0, before playing a goalless draw against Niger Tornadoes.

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In another brilliant display, Ikorodu City FC brushed aside the hard-fighting El-Kanemi Warriors in the 2024/2025 NPFL mid-week Match Day 14.

After playing a goalless first half, Ikorodu City FC returned with more energy in the second half to score two goals in a match played before the cheering spectators at Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan.

Left-footed Shola Adelani, who has been a pain for the Desert Warriors, scored a beautiful goal in the 62nd minute after a dribbling pass from substitute Ayomide Cole.

Cole, who had earlier provided an assist, then capped it off with the second goal of the match in the 76th minute after a precise pass from Tosin Oyedokun.

Ikorodu City FC has now gone five matches unbeaten, starting from NPFL Match Day 10 when they defeated the then-league leaders, Rivers United FC, 2-0 in Lagos.

Ikorodu City FC beat Katsina United FC away 2-1, after which they returned home to defeat Shooting Stars. In another away fixture, the Oga Boys played a goalless draw against Niger Tornadoes in Minna for the Match Day 13 fixture.

The captain of Ikorodu City FC, Waliu Ojetoye, described the team’s good run in simple terms: hard work.

"The unbeaten run is a product of our hard work, team spirit, and mentality," he said. "We were very poor at the start of the league, and we weren't getting the results, but with persistence, we were able to change our mentality and tactics, which yielded good results."

"We are not thinking about a continental ticket right now, but playing the game as it comes. The win today shows that we are getting it right. I cannot talk about games we have not played."

"We are not scared of any team right now. We’ve been tagged as the babies of the league, but we are more than that. We are wounded lions; we are ready to fight on," he added.

The Coach of Ikorodu City FC, Nuruden Aweroro, downplayed any spectacular factors in the team's successful run.

"There’s nothing spectacular we are doing right now. We just focus on working hard and follow our philosophy, which we refine during training."

"We try to make sure that we do the right thing at the right time during training. The mirror of the match is the training. Once we’ve perfected our tactics in training, we believe it will be easy for us during the match."

"There is nothing like impossibility. We can make it anywhere. We have a target, and as long as we don’t relent, we will get good results. We start planning for the next match after the last one," he said.

Aweroro also acknowledged that beating the top-ranked team in the league was not easy, adding that the team would continue to do its best to keep the fans happy.

The win has moved Ikorodu City FC into the top six of the NPFL standings, sitting in 5th position with six wins, three draws, and five losses, accumulating 21 points.

Ikorodu City FC will next play Akwa United FC on Sunday, Dec. 1, at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan.

2024/2025 NPFL Match Day 14: Ikorodu City FC maintains unbeaten momentum with win over El-Kanemi Warriors

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