By Daily Sports on January 15, 2020

Match Day 15 of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) will be heralded by the Oriental Derby as Enyimba welcome Heartland to Aba on Wednesday.

The Elephants, still basking in the euphoria of their big CAF Champions League win against Paradou of Algeria will look to send their Brothers back home empty-handed.

Heartland beat Abia Warriors for the first time last weekend and will have their sights on Enyimba who didn’t play due to continental engagements.

Three points separate the two teams on the log with Heartland at 11th position with 18 points while Enyimba, with three games at hand, sit in 16th place with 15 points after 14 round of games.

This will be Fatai Osho’s first league outing as head coach of Enyimba after Usman Abdallah’s dismissal last week.

Plateau United, displaced at the top by Lobi Star will travel to Akure to meet Sunshine Stars who have been one of the in-form teams at the moment.

The Jos side huffed and puffed against Akwa United last weekend at the New Jos Stadium but came up short as Akwa left Jos with a point.

Sunshine, on the other hand, was imperious against Wikki Tourists in Bauchi handing the home side a 2-1 spanking to spoil the home side’s return to the Tafawa Balewa Stadium.

Plateau midfielder Uche Onwuasoanya told www.npfl.ng that his side will do all they can to get a result in Akure to make up for the disappointment in Jos.

“Sunshine in Akure are very tough but we are determined to go there and get something out of the game. We have forgotten about the Akwa game. We dominated the game throughout the match but could not score. If you don’t score you can’t win games,” he revealed.

Warri Wolves will face Rangers at the Warri Township Stadium hoping to add more distress to a struggling Rangers side who have under-performed this season.

The Enugu side is at bottom of the table with a miserly nine points albeit with four games at hand. Wolves lost 3-1 at FC IfeanyiUbah despite scoring first in a very open game.

Adamawa United’s fortunes in the league haven’t really been good and they will look to stop the rot when they welcome Wikki Tourist in Gombe.

This is technically a derby and not just because the two states aren’t far from each other but also that Wikki played all their home matches at the Pantami Stadium before last weekend as the same stadium is also the adopted home ground of Adamawa United.

The race for points for both sides – who are both in the bottom half (Wikki are 16th, Adamawa in 18th will make this game an interesting one.

Kano Pillars make the short trip to the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium to face Katsina United who have a very good record at home. After a poor start, Pillars have found their groove and started a strong walk up the table.

This Northern derby has not really produced many goals in recent times but the race for points might make this one different.

Pillars will be without right-back Ifeanyi Nweke who is on suspension while Katsina will unleash new signing Munir Ubale (from Jigawa) on the Kano side.

MFM and Jigawa Golden Stars will light up the Agege Stadium with beautiful free-flowing football which is the hallmark of both sides. (The Nation)

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 15, 2020

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