SPORT Bala, Bosso, Ilechukwu make LBA February award shortlists

The League Bloggers Awards (LBA), yesterday, announced an eight-man shortlist to vie for the Manager and Player’s awards respectively for the month of February in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

The list includes four managers and four players from the top division in the country.

Abubakar Bala of Tornadoes, Ladan Bosso of El-Kanemi Warriors, Abdu Maikaba of Akwa United and MFM FC’s Fidelis Ilechukwu are the four men in the race for February’s manager award while Moses Ebiye, Sunday Adetunji, Samuel Mathias and Ernest Governor are listed for the player’s prize.

Tornadoes head coach Bala helped his club to three wins, including a 1-0 win at struggling Remo Stars. Bala also led his team to a 1-1 draw against Katsina United in one of their three home games in February.

The performance earned Bala and Tornadoes 10 points despite a two-nil loss at Plateau United. Bosso’s El-Kanemi Warriors were in fine fettle in the month under review. Out of five matches played, they won four including a 1-0 success at Abia Warriors. Their other wins were at home against former Nigerian champions Enyimba, Gombe United, Abia Warriors and Nasarawa United.

It was a period of resurgence for Akwa United under Maikaba as he guided the Promise Keepers to three wins and a draw at Gombe United in five matches in February. Their only defeat was a 0-1 loss at Enyimba.

Ilechukwu had just three games to oversee for MFM FC and had a decent return considering that two of the games were played on the road. MFM won 1-0 at Sunshine Stars and then stunned champions Enugu Rangers 2-1 at their Agege Stadium ground.