SHOOTING STARS BEAT SUNSHINE IN CRUCIAL DERBY

For the second time in as many games, the South Western derby between Shooting Stars and Sunshine Stars was devoid of crowd troubles. The first leg in Akure was the birth of the new era which extended to the end Week 22 of the NPFL between the two teams on Sunday.

The game started on a high tempo with homers condemned to win going by their recent indecent results.

Fatai Amoo paraded a crack team spearheaded by Sunday Faleye, supported by Ajani Ibrahim and Tayo Adebogun;  with equally experienced reserves of debutants Abu Azeez and Wasiu Jimoh.

Also, Sunshine Stars started the match with three of our old players Tope Orelope, Ebitimi Agogu and Adesina Thomas as expected.

The game began with a Sunshine Stars kick off albeit it was all Shooting Stars affairs for the first 10 minutes leaving fans excited by the crisp displays of Tayo Adebogun and Sunday Faleye.
As such, Ajani Ibrahim capped it up with a goal in sixth minute via a grounder  to beat Sunshine goalie Ariyo. Ayobami Junior provided the assist.

Sunshine Stars took the game to their hosts’ half with exchanges from Orelope, Okoyoh and Adedipe but the resultant effect was an offside positional play in the 12th minute.
   
Shooting Stars also won a free kick which was wasted by Abayomi Junior in the 14th minutes, kept most of the possessions in the half but with attendant misses.

However, Sunshine Stars gave a good resistance with occasional moves. On the half hour mark, former boy Orelope got into the referee’s book as he was brandished a Yellow card for  a foul on Sunday Faleye.

Ebitimi Agogu puts the ball in the the net on 40th minute but the assistant referee already indicated an offside play and the scoreline remained till the end of the half.

On resumption, Shooting Stars set the game off but it was Sunshine Stars who seized the initiatives with constant attacking intents.

Tope Orelope  was changed for Sikiru Alimi at the 50th minute  to pep up the attack in search for an equalizer.

Tope was relatively kept quiet by the Shooting Stars defence line, not a good home coming for the former lad.

At a time, Ajani got a fine pass to Sunday Faleye in the 54th minute but he was slow to react  thus wasted the effort.

Wasiu Jimoh got his debut when he came on for Tolu Olaifa in the 56th minute. Jimoh made a quick impact but his effort was went over the bar in the 59th minutes off Ajani Ibrahim’s pass.

Again, Sunshine brought in Tope Abraham for the seemingly tired Michael Okoyoh. Ebitimi Agogu brought out a beautiful save out of Adamu Abubakar with a good effort in the 62nd minute as the visitors continued their search for a leveller.

There was a substitution for each side in the 76th minute as the Super Sand Eagles Star Abu Azeez came on for Sunday Faleye who was not really in the game while Sunshine Stars also brought on Otegbeye Ajibola and Adedipe Kehinde gave way.

Otegbeye instantly got a chance but ballooned it off target. Sunshine's Sikiru Alimi had his sight on goal in the 82nd minute but he was caught in an offside position. Abu Azeez almost doubled in the 89th minute but his shot went wide.

The score line remained 1-0 until the centre referee Segun Omowaiye signalled the end of the game after the regulation time.

This ended Shooting Stars four match defeat back to back.

Sunshine Chief Coach Augustine Eguaveon in his post-match talk  stated that it was a good game and his team needs to continue to work harder.

Fatai Amoo also admitted the game was as a difficult one but  commended his wards for giving it all to secure the maximum points

With this result, the home side has won each of their last NPFL matches between the two teams.

Meanwhile, one thing is pretty certain from the match, the strife is over between both teams as we experienced what could be termed as a brotherly exchange after the match.

However, Shooting Stars are still rooted at the 19th position. Next match is at home to Kano Pillars on Wednesday.