IHS, Ericsson Upset Form Books with Wins over MTN, Etisalat

It is turning out to be a dream debut for IHS in the 2015 Nigeria Telecommunication Games football event as they made it two wins out of two with a win over former champions, MTN in a table toppers’ clash on Sunday at the Onikan stadium.

LM Ericsson completed the day of upsets piping defending champions, Etisalat 1-0 in the second game of Match Day 3.

Moruf Ibrahim was the hero of the day completing a brace in the first half of the explosive encounter on the 24th and 38th minutes. Try as they could, MTN, two time winners of the football title were unable to respond as the Y’hello boys were pegged by a strong IHS back line.

With the two goals, Ibrahim took his tally to four goals in two games to lead the chase for the highest goal scorers award.

After the encounter, IHS captain, Desmond Amobi, said they were more than prepared for the tournament and may have been under rated by the more established sides.

According to Amobi, “there was so much tension in the course of the match and the spectators already gave the match to MTN. We are happy to have shocked them and I give a lot of credit to my mates because we played like a team”.

“It has been a wonderful experience for us and we hope that at the end of the round-robbing stage, the cup will come to IHS despite the fact that we are first timers in this competition”, said Amobi.

In defeat, Tajudeen Bello, the MTN coach described their defeat as painful but denied that they looked down on the first timers.

“It is not true that we looked down on the opponents because we were on ground with my assistants and players when IHS played their first match with Airtel to study them. Our undoing was from some poor defending”, Bello explained, refusing to rule his team out of the title race.

In the other match of the day, Charles Daferiogho converted a free kick to earn Ericsson their first ever win over Etisalat in the history of the Telecom games in spite of the cup holders dominating play from the start to the end of the encounter. It was the second defeat for Etisalat which are now mathematically out of the title race. IHS and MTN are now tied on six points with a game at hand.