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Players of Dolphins
were missing from this week’s Nigerian Premier League (NPL) Team of the
Week even though they continued their impressive run at the weekend
when it inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Lobi Stars at Port Harcourt’s
Liberation Stadium.

City rivals, Sharks
were however represented through Victor Ezeji who grabbed the opening
goal in their 1-1 draw with Kano Pillars at the Sani Abacha Stadium
where Victor Namo, who also made the team, secured a dramatic late
equaliser.

The draw however
left both sides further behind Dolphins whose win over Lobi Stars made
it four wins in row for Stanley Eguma’s side and kept them at the top
of the league standings for a second successive week.

However, Sunshine
Stars with 20 points are close on the trail of the table-topping
Dolphins, who have 22 points. Sunshine had recorded a 2-1 win over
Heartland with Daniel Mende grabbing the match-winning goal for the
Akure based side at Ijebu Ode’s Gateway International Stadium at the
weekend.

The encounter was
however marred by a brawl that ensued after Heartland’s Joshua Obaje
cancelled out Ibrahim Ajani’s opening goal as fans of the Akure side
threatened harm the match officials and journalists at the match venue.

Referees take the spotlight

Another game, which
kept the match officials busy was the tie in neighbouring Abeokuta
where Shooting Stars and Kaduna United played out a 1-1 draw with both
sides finishing the game with ten men each after centre referee, Godwin
Ubosi issued red cards to Shooting Stars’ Raphael Musa and Kaduna’s
Nelson Nimyel.

A red card was also
handed out in the game between Zamfara United and Crown with the
culprit on this occasion being Zamfara’s Usman.

That incident took
place in the 44th minute but did little to prevent Zamfara from
shooting into the lead in the 53rd minute after Austin Kadiri
successfully converted a penalty. The referee had adjudged Charles
Otuwe guilty of handling the ball in the area.

Crown equally had a penalty of their own but Bode Daniel wasn’t as fortunate as he saw his effort saved by Olabisi Adewunmi.

The match officials
were also in the spotlight in Aba where Enyimba failed to win at home
for the first time this season, settling for a goalless draw against
Warri Wolves with 11 minutes of stoppage time played on the orders of
centre referee Adamu Gambo.

There was however
no such cases at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium where Enugu Rangers pipped
visiting Gombe United 1-0 to move to within six points of Dolphins.

Another game
decided in Enugu saw struggling Plateau United twice coming from behind
to secure a 2-2 draw against Niger Tornadoes.

But the shock of the weekend was witnessed in Bauchi where Bukola Babes recorded an emphatic 3-0 win over Kwara United.