Giwa Survives Elephants Rumble in Aba

Poor marksmanship robbed Enyimba of victory in the Aba battle of Elephants as Giwa ran away with a goalless draw, their second in two seasons against the former champions who failed to score in two consecutive meetings on their home ground against the club that moved up to the premier division last season.

Enyimba were attack minded right from the very first blast of the referee’s whistle, taking the game to their visitor’s half but the two time African champions did not however create good chances to score in the first half.

After the goalless first stanza, Enyimba came out more forcefully in the second half looking probing for the leader which saw Giwa’s back line holding strong. The resolute defense of the visitors was such that Coach Kadiri Ikhana had to draft in old warhorse Emeka Nwanna in a bid to unlock the well knit Giwa defense line.

Nwanna’s coming made the Enyimba attack more vibrant but despite the incessant forays, they simply failed to put the ball in the net. Nwanna was unlucky to see his 59th minute back flick miss target narrowly. Before then Peter Onyekachi’s header grazed the woodwork and bounced into touch on the 57 th minute.

Ikhana had to draft in two more attackers but the coming in of Chimezie Amanfor and Emmanuel Egezi did not change anything as Giwa kept defending well with goalkeeper Achimugwu making some great saves.

Enyimba’s keeper, Femi Thomas was virtually on holiday all through as Giwa seemed to have no plans to go near his territory. Buy disaster would have struck late in the game for Enyimba as Giwa’s substitute, Charles Okoro surged forward. He was goal bound only to be tripped from behind by Razak Aliyu who got a yellow card in the process.

With only a minute left, Enyimba lost another seater of a chance when Amanfor nodded wide in front of empty net with Giwa keeper Achimugwu already out of his line. Despite the draw Enyimba fans left the arena quietly even as most of them blamed ill luck for the goalless draw.

Giwa dropped to second place with 15 points behind Sunshine Stars who moved to the top on 16 points following a 2-0 win at Akure against Shooting Stars.