NPFL: ‘Ikorodu City Will Survive’, Kelechi Onwe Says After Losing At Home To Rangers

It has been three games and three unwanted results for the newly promoted Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) side, Ikorodu City, as they failed to grab at least a point in their first home game of the league season.

After playing two of their first NPFL games away, Ikorodu City finally had the opportunity to show Lagosian what they can do in the league earlier today, September 25, as they played their first home game at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena (Onikan stadium).

The rescheduled game was against the league’s reigning champions, Enugu Rangers, who were knocked out of the CAF Champions League by Angolan side Sagrada Esperança in the preliminary stage.

As expected, Rangers had a very solid defence that didn’t allow the home side through, even though Ikorodu City enjoyed the most of the ball possession.

In the 25th minute of the encounter, Enugu Rangers’ Captain Chinemerem Ugwueze gave the visitors the lead, forcing the hosts to play under more pressure. Despite the pressure, coach Bright Ozebagbe’s side continued to control proceedings, especially in the middle of the park.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t take advantage of the numerous goalscoring opportunities that fell in their path, especially in the second half of the encounter. The introduction of Moses Sodeinde in the last 15 minutes of the game helped Ikorodu City to push harder for an equalizer, which they couldn’t get until the final whistle.

While the hosts were trying to grab an equalizer, the visitors decided to use every opportunity to slow down the game to further frustrate Ikorodu City and their home fans.

At the end of the match, Naija News asked Ikorodu City’s star midfielder, Kelechi Onwe, his take on the game, he said, “I think we have to always take our chances”.

On what worked against Ikorodu City in the encounter, Onwe added: “The time wastage was too much. I don’t think there was anything the referee would have done. The goalkeeper was always going down. They just tried to slow us down. I think that was one of the [issues].”

Note that the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Enugu Rangers is Ikorodu City’s second out of three league games. They suffered a 3-0 away win at the hands of Kano Pillars in their league opener before drawing 0-0 with Kwara United on Sunday, September 22.

Following the two defeats and the draw, Ikorodu are currently bottom of the NPFL table with one point, just like five other clubs above them – Bendel Insurance, Kwara United, Lobi Stars, Bayelsa United, and Heartland.

When Naija News asked Kelechi Onwe whether Ikorodu would survive the already-building relegation battle, the midfielder said, “Sure, we are going to survive. I am very positive. I am very sure we are going to survive.”

On what the team needs to do going forward, he added, “I think we need to improve our mentality and try to get it right… We are really coming up but I think we need to do more.”

Ikorodu City’s next league game is against 13th-placed Nasarawa United at the Onikan stadium. The game will kick off at 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 28.