With just five games left in the Nigeria National League (NNL), Kwara United Football of Ilorin under the Chairmanship of Prince Oladimeji Thompson, has been tremendous in the League since start of the season.
The team under the tutelage of former Nigeria U-20 Coach has played 17 matches like any other club in the bet9ja 2016/2017 Nigeria National League, Northern Conference.
The Harmony Boys are currently occupying the first spot on the log after 10 wining matches, two draws, four loses , scored 24 goals and conceded just 10 goals with +14 goals advantage with 32 points.
With 32 points, Kwara United picked 11 coherent points on the wheel, picking the maximum 3 points against FC Taraba, Kogi United and Adamawa United; securing a draw against FC Abuja and FRSC.
With six points gap on the NNL Northern Conference, the Harmony side has five matches left, with the home games against Jigawa Golden Stars, FRSC and FC Taraba and two away with Kaduna United and FC Zamfara.
Having survived Kogi United scare in their last home game in Ilorin, the state darling team stand a better chance to book a Premier League ticket in the NNL Northern Conference.
Sokoto United
The City of Caliphate side is doing everything humanly possible to pick one of the qualifying tickets, having won 9 matches (no draw), and 18 loses, with 27 points out of the 16 matches played.
Sokoto United picked 3 points on the wheel against FRSC FC of Abuja. They are tentatively placed 5th on the chart, having drawn their last home game against Jigawa FC.
With five matches to go, Sokoto has three home games, FC Jigawa, FRSC and FC Taraba, their two away games include, FC Zamfara and FC Abuja.
Jigawa
The Golden Stars team has moved to third position log at the end of 17 fixtures with eight wins, two draws and six loses, 26 points.
They have also picked two away draws against FC Zamfara and FRSC. Jigawa also has five matches left, three games against Mighty Jets, Kogi Utd and Yobe Dessert Stars, two away, Kwara United and Kaduna United.
Mighty Jets
The Jos based side is presently 4th on the log, having played 17 matches both home and away securing nine wins, three draws, 6 loses, with 26 points.
They picked three draws so far from home against FC Abuja and FC Zamfara. Left with five matches; two with Kaduna United, FC Zamfara, FC Abuja, Jigawa Golden Stars, FRSC and FC Taraba are all away games.
Yobe Stars
The Dessert Stars has played 17 matches also with nine wins, two draws, 6 loses, hitting the net 16 times while the opponents also responded with 16 times, now left with no goal advantage. They are currently second on the log after playing 17 matches.
Yobe has five matches left, two homes, FC Abuja and Adamawa United, three away with Kogi United, Kaduna United and Jigawa Golden Stars.
Kaduna United
They placed 6th on the log after 17 games, eight wins, no draw, nine loses, and 24 points.
Kaduna United picked the maximum 3 points in far away Taraba. They are left with five games, four HOME: Kwara United, Yobe Dessert Stars, JIgawa GS and FRSC, one away game against Kogi United.
Kogi Utd
The Confluence state has played 17 games with 7 wins, two draws, eight loses and 23 points all together.
The hard fighting Kogi side has picked two draws on the wheel against Adamawa United and FC Abuja. Kogi United are now left with five matches.
The home games include, Yobe Desert Stars, Kaduna United, FC Zamfara, two away, Jigawa United and FRSC.
FC Abuja
The team based in the city of Federal Capital Territory is currently struggling on the log, having garnered just 22 points with 16 games.
They are left with six games in which they must avoid dropping more points, especially in their remaining home games.
They are currently placed eighth on the log.
Adamawa United/Zamfara United
Both sides are not comfortable on the log, looking for survival in the league with just 22 point after 16 games.
The two teams are left with five games respectively and the only way to avoid being dropped from the league is to win more games and avoid home lose.
Adamawa and Zamfara also have five more games to play in the league.
While FRSC of Abuja, FC Taraba and Afe Babalola who has been expelled from the league are already in the relegation zone, having occupied the last bottom of the NNL Northern Conference table.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Destiny Ashadi has ended a run of 831 minutes away in NPFL games without a goal for Katsina United.
- O. Sikiru and S. Odey have provided a combined total of 10 assists for each other – the best by any in NPFL duo this term.
- Stephen Odey has now scored 18 goals in the NPPL this term – double his goal tally last season.
- Ikechukwu Ibenegbu has now scored three free kicks this season, no NPFL player has scored more – tied with Elisha Golbe.
- Sunshine Stars has won two successive NPFL away games, but didn’t win any of the previous 22 away games.
- Rivers United lost a home game for the first time in their NPFL history, ending a run of 31 matches.
- Tony Okpotu has scored more goals from open play (excl. penalties & direct free kicks) than any other NPFL.
- ABS FC has now gone 24 consecutive away games in the NPFL without keeping a clean sheet.
- Enyimba Int’l won only once in their last 6 games against Lobi Stars in the NPFL (2D 3L).
- Shooting Stars has lost only one of their six NPFL games against newly promoted sides in this season (2W 3D).
- Rivers United has never won a NPFL game against Sunshine Stars in three attempts (1D 2L).
- The home side has won the last eight NPFL matches between Nasarawa United and El-kanemi Warriors.
- MFM FC has now scored the first goal in 17 games through Odey’s 17th goal of the season – outright record for club and player.
- Tony Okpotu has now scored 13 goals this term, one more goal than his total tally in the whole of last season.
- Only FC Ifeanyiubah (12) has been awarded more penalty kicks than Niger Tornadoes this season.
- Enyimba Int’l is the only unbeaten team in NPFL oriental derbies this season {P4 W3 D1 L0}.
- The team playing at home has won each of the last 13 NPFL matches between Enyimba Int’l and Niger Tornadoes.
NNL Northern Conference Table
No Clubs MP WIN DRAW LOSS GF GA Pts
1 Kwara Utd 17 11 2 4 26 11 35
2 Yobe d’ Stars 17 9 2 6 18 17 29
3 Jigawa Stars 17 8 3 6 23 14 27
4 Mighty Jets 17 8 3 6 18 16 27
5 Sokoto Utd 16 9 – 7 13 14 27
6 Kaduna Utd 17 8 – 9 15 18 24
7 Kogi Utd 17 7 2 8 13 15 23
8 Fc Abuja 16 6 4 6 13 12 22
9 Adamawa 16 7 1 8 13 15 22
10 FC Zamfara 16 6 4 6 14 18 22
11 FRSC FC 15 5 2 8 12 16 17
12 FC Taraba 17 5 1 11 12 21 16
13 Afe Babalola – – – – – – –
NPFL Table
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Plateau Utd 32 17 7 8 44 20 24 58
2 MFM FC 31 17 4 10 38 36 2 55
3 Akwa Utd 32 14 9 9 38 26 12 51
4 Enyimba 32 15 5 12 33 25 8 50
5 El-Kanemi 32 16 1 15 32 35 -3 49
6 IfeanyiUbah 32 13 8 11 35 27 8 47
7 Nasarawa 32 13 8 11 31 24 7 47
8 Lobi Stars 32 13 8 11 35 29 6 47
9 Tornadoes 32 13 6 13 25 28 -3 45
10 Kano Pillars 31 13 5 13 29 29 0 44
11 Wikki 32 13 4 15 31 34 -3 43
12 Sunshine 32 13 3 16 33 39 -6 42
13 Rangers 32 11 9 12 32 38 -6 42
14 Katsina 32 12 6 14 28 34 -6 42
15 Abia W. 32 11 8 13 32 29 3 41
16 Shooting 32 10 10 12 26 32 -6 40
17 ABS F.C. 32 11 7 14 29 42 -13 40
18 Rivers Utd 30 10 8 12 22 23 -1 38
19 Gombe Utd 32 9 10 13 28 40 -12 37
20 Remo Stars 32 7 8 17 25 36 -11 29
