NNL: ABS Humiliate FC Taraba

2018 NNL: ABS dismantle Taraba in season's 1st win By Admin Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC, on Saturday dismantled visiting FC Taraba of Jalingo 4-0 in a Match Day 3 Bet9ja Nigeria National League (NNL). The match which was played at the Kwara Stadium Complex, Ilorin, saw the hosts in front with two minutes into the game. ABS began the rout when Tosin Olabode's perfect cross found an unmarked Sunday Damian and the Saraki Boys' winger made no mistake as he headed straight into the net for 1-0. The Saraki Boys pegged their visitors their half and were dominating possessions for most part of the first half. Abubakar Chindo in the 6th minute would have doubled the lead for the Saraki Boys but his solo effort hit the post and Deemua Best glided the rebound. In the 27th minute, the centre referee, Michael Uba, from Kaduna State, pointed to the spot kick for a penalty, when a Taraba defender was adjudged to have handled the ball in his own box. Abdulrahman Abdullahi converted the penalty even though Fred Reuben almost saved it in the 29th minute. Deemua Best made it 3-0 in the 32rd minute when his free-kick was deflected inside the Taraba's net. Damian was close to grabbing a brace in the 42nd but Taraba defenders reacted well to deny him. The visitors restarted the game better in the 2nd half and they were threatening on few occasions but the duo of Deemua Best and Sunday Damian won't stop entertaining the crowd with their mesmerising displays. Four minutes into resumption, Yusuf Abubakar perfect cross into the Taraba's box met an unmarked Best but he was not composed enough to convert the opportunity, he instead headed wide. Midway into the 2nd half, the Saraki Boys regain their dominance and kept the duo of Sunday Mannassey and Yusuf Yakubu very busy in the heart of the defence of FC Taraba. Yusuf Abubakar completed ABS rampage in the 76th minutes, when he dribbled past a Taraba defender and curled the ball into the top corner of the Taraba's net for 4-0. Speaking after the match, Coach of ABS, Tunde Sanni, said he is sure everyone is happy because of the margin but he would have preferred more goals because his wards wasted too many chances. "You saw the numbers of goals we wasted, we must go back and work on that to convert the chances we threw away today. "We were serious today, the fact that we scored early in our first home game got into our heads and we threw away the lead and drew 1-1. "We must work on how to defend our early leads, when you score first does not mean you have won the game but you must defend it to the end" Sanni said. His Taraba counterpart, Weso Mathew, said their bad travelling plans destabilised them and that his boys could not even move well. "We left Jalingo on Friday at 3pm and we arrived around 2pm today. "The boys didn't do any shake up, we ate late and as you can see, the boys were not able to move. "I couldn't believe it was my team I was watching" Mathew said. ABS now have four points from three games and we travel to Kaduna to lock horns with Kaduna United for match day 4 on Saturday.