By Kingsley uzowulu.
Heartland fc of Owerri on Sunday 9/3/25 played out a one all draw against visiting Bayelsa United fc in match day 28 of the NPFL.
The match which was decided at the Dan Anyiam stadium owerri kicked off by 5:40 pm by the visitors through jersey number 26 ( o ifeanyi).
Bayelsa United immediately indicated their quest to at least pick the maximum point at stake as they launched an attack against the home team and dominating possession of the ball as well.
The two teams has 33pts and are placed at the bottom of the log and therefore needs the 3pts to swim out of the relegation waters.
The two teams were aware of their standing on the log and played with a lot of pressure and tension and in effect posting a lackluster performance and uncoordinated play.
The visitors were highly physical and they used same to dominate play there by creating alot of chances that they failed to utilize as well.
Before the 30th minute of the match Emmanuel Charles who was injured was substituted by Stephen Ezeani.
The introduction of Stephen added some bite in the attack for the Naze Millionaires as they launched series of attacks that was never used to do any damage against the lads from Yenagoa.
The visitors also had their own opportunities as they kept on firing from all angles to score the curtain raiser off a long range shot that hit the wood works.
The not so enterprising first period ended with a barren draw.
In the second half of the match the home team made a tripartite substitution as Daniel Ekpo, Surajudeen lawal and Samuel Wisdom went in to replace promise Anyanwu, Tobi Iyanda, and Joel Okoro.
The kickoff for the half was done by surajudeen lawal and the home boys pushed forward almost immediately seizing the midfield and occasionally launching counter attacks against the visitors but their efforts were fruitless as the prosperity boys stood their grounds by stopping every potential attacks by Heartland fc.
Moments later and in the cause of the match the visitors got the curtain raiser via a set piece that caught the Naze Millionaires goalie napping and the goal came in as soon as the Moslem faithfuls in the visiting team including the referee broke their fast.
The flood lights which were turned on in the second half helped to brighten up the pitch as the home team battled tenaciously to redeem their image .
In the 60th minute of the game Surajudeen lawal came on song as he leveled up for the home team via a goal mouth scramble at the visitors area.
Naze Millionaires after the equalizer continued to torment the visitors, mounting all sorts of pressure and creating visible chances in front of goal but poor marksmanship and finishing robbed of scoring any other goal.
Heartland fc pulled out ikwu Ejike for Benjamin Victor while the visitors substituted two players as well.
All efforts made by the home team to grab another goal proved abortive as the defensive formation of the visitors and the goal keeper as well truncated every move until the blast of the whistle by the referee for the end of proceedings.
Heartland fc will now be on the road away to Remo Stars at Ikenne for match day 29 of the NPFL.
