BY Kingsley uzowulu.
Heartland fc of owerri at tstadium played out a goaless draw against Kwara utd in week 34 of the NPFL.
The Naze Millionaires went into the match with the determination to earn the 3 points at stake after winning back to back their two previous matches against Kano pillars and Rangers international fc respectively.
The team before the encounter against the Afonja warriors had accumulated 41points and are placed 16th on the NPFL log.
Kwara utd took the kickoff of the match through jersey number 4 and went straight into business indicating clearly that they were in Owerri to at least pick a point.
The Emmanuel Amuneke led team had a clear chance to go in front in the first 3minutes of the half but was filtered away by Surajudeen lawal, they persisted as the duo of Emmanuel Charles and Anthony Omaka in the midfield for the home team continued to mesmerize the visitors defense with determined ball possession while sending tailor made passes into the opponent’s vital area that was not effectively utilized by the strikers.
The visitors on the other hand came with a game plan to defend in the first half as they managed to stop and truncate all the moves made by the home team to do any serious damage.
The second half commenced under a heavy down pour of the rain as the lads from ilorin came out from their shell to launch series of attacks against the Naze Millionaires which almost resulted to an own goal by Heartland fc.
The Owerri based team pulled out Isaac for Chukwuma Agor Midway into the second half, the visitors were not left out as they also made 2 changes to beef up their team.
Afonja warriors took over the midfield with the introduction of their substituted and kept launching the required against the home team, but goaltender Kelvin ogunga was always there to salvage the situation for the one time CAF champions league finalist.
Much later in the match the technical crew of the home team made a tripartite change as Joel okoro, Benjamin Victor and Daniel Ekpo went in to replace Anthony Omaka and tired promise to help press home their quest for the 3points at stake.
Heartland fc continued to mount the required pressure against their opponent and had clear opportunities in front of goal even when the goalkeeper of the visitors was at their mercy as all the effort to net in atleast a goal proved abortive.
The referee doled out 4 additional minutes after full time, but the home boys could not do much until the blast of the referee’s whitsle for the end of the match.
Heartland fc will now be on the road away to Nasarawa Utd on their adopted ground in Gombe as the NPFL gradually comes to a climax.
