Seven-time League Champions Enyimba Fc defeated visiting team Mountain of Fire ministries (MFM) FC of Lagos by 2 goals to nil at the Enyimba international stadium in Aba.
Kano Pillars picked up a narrow 1-0 victory over visiting Heartland FC of Owerri to begin the 2019 league season with a victory. The fixture was played at the Sani Abacha stadium and it host a large number of spectators.
Midfielder Sunday Chinedu scored the winner in the 16th minute, and in spite of their dominance Kano Pillars failed to add to their lead.
In Aba, Nelson Ogbonnaya gave Enyimba the lead on 13 minutes, before Abdulrahman Bashir sealed the win in the 54th minute.
Forming MFM players Chukwuka Onuwa and Stanley Okorom were hoping on making their debut following tranfers, but Enyimba trainer Usman Abdullahi decided to keep faith in Austin Oladapo and Andrew Balogun
The visitors handed debut to Michael Ohanu, who formed a formidable partnership upfront with Chijioke Akuneto and Akanni Elijah in a 4-3-3 formation. Ohanu joined the Lagos side from El-Kanemi Warriors.
Enyimba dominated the encounter in the early stages before Ogbonnaya opened the scoring in the 13th minute. The People’s Elephant came close to making it two nil three minutes after the break but Nasamu was at the right place and time to make the save. Though MFM survived that attempt, all it took was another five minutes for the visiting team to go down thanks to a strike from Bashir. MFM came close to grabbing a consolation late on in the game Akuneto’s decision to go solo instead of releasing teammate Ohanu backfired.
The result meant that Enyimba tops group A, after Kwara United and Sunshine Fc shared the spoils at Illorin, while the remaining games were shifted due to Lobi Stars and Ranger Fc involvement in the continental games and Remo Stars and Bendel Insurances break after their Super 8 playoff.