CLEMENT NWANKPA JNR writes that this season’s Nigeria league could go all the way to the wire with leaders Wikki and Enugu Rangers now very much in the title chase.
Gradually, the 2015/16 NPFL season is getting to the business end. The results are getting more interesting and each passing week throws up more puzzles.
Here are five things we learnt from match day 26 results…
(1)WIKKI PUSHING FOR THIS ONE
If Idris Guda Mohammed did not score in the 90th minute, Wikki would have lost away to Warri Wolves and Rangers would have assumed leadership of the table.
But Mohammed’s goal meant Wikki returned to the summit albeit on superior goals.
It took 69 minutes for Wikki to get a shot at goal, but when it mattered most, they pushed so hard and scored their 11th goal of the season in the last 10 minutes of a game.
This shows resilience.
Since assuming the number one position in the last week of the first stanza, Wikki have refused to relinquish top spot, grinding out results just to hang in there. Champions are made of such stuff.
(2) THIS WILL GO DOWN TO THE LAST DAY
We are faced with the most unpredictable season in recent times. About five teams can still win this championship.
The pre-season favourites Enyimba and Pillars are still lurking around, but the surprise top three – Wikki, Rangers and Rivers United – are not willing to shift grounds.
Six points separate Wikki and fifth-placed Enyimba with the latter having two outstanding games.
This is primed for a grand-stand finish that should go down to the last match day.
Ultimately, it may come down to the team with superior goals-that, by the way, is the reason Wikki are still at the top.
(3) RANGERS CAN BELIEVE!
Rangers’ 33 years wait for the championship could end this season.
‘The Flying Antelopes’ are tied on points at the top with Wikki and both teams go away this weekend. Rangers will be guests of Akwa United while Tornadoes hosts Wikki.
With the inconsistencies of Pillars and Enyimba, there couldn’t have been a better season for Rangers to break this jinx. They are beginning to believe.
The atmosphere at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu now nicknamed ‘The Cathedral’, last Friday night captures the expectancy.
Squeezing out all three points off an Abia Warriors team that was determined to get something from the game spoke volumes.
This ‘Cathedral’ is really becoming a fortress.
(4) ABIA WARRIORS SLUMP CONTINUES
Disastrous ends to seasons are made of these – you lose 5-0 to Pillars in Kano; then lose 1-0 at home to relegation-threatened Plateau United and fall 2-1 to Rangers in an Oriental derby.
Zero out of nine available points for a team who went 10 matches unbeaten earlier in the season is alarming.
The effect, of course, is that from being title contenders mid-season, Warriors will end the season battling to remain in the top flight.
(5) MORE TEAMS JOIN THE RELEGATION FIGHT
With Giwa expelled and Ikorodu United as good as condemned for the drop, there are still two relegation spots to be filled.
Before last weekend, it seemed a three-horse battle between Heartland, Shooting Stars and Plateau, but last weekend’s results have thrown up more relegation-threatened teams.
Wolves, Abia Warriors and Tornadoes have joined the struggle for survival. Three points separate 13th placed Tornadoes and 18th placed Heartland.
Even MFM, FC IfeanyiUbah and Nasarawa on 33 points are not safe.
With 12 match days left, any of these teams could be relegated.
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