TUSSLE FOR SUPER FOUR DIADEM-Enyimba dare Wolves, Heartland battle Bayelsa United - ‘Peoples elephant’ favoured to win

Category: Sports Published on Saturday, 22 August 2009 01:00 Written by David Ngobua Hits: 764

The water logged Ilorin Township Stadium will today have more footballers swimming in it as it plays host to two final matches  in this year’s close season Super Four Competition organized by the Nigerian Premier League.

The competition which started on Tuesday in the ancient city of Ilorin will end today with the match involving one of Nigeria’s representatives in this year’s CAF Champions League, Heartland FC of Owerri and Baylesa United, Nigeria’s representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup.

In the other match, two time African Champions Enyimba FC of Aba will slug it out with Warri Wolves.

 Going by matches played so far by the four clubs in the competition, the Peoples elephants as Enyimba FC is popularly called look good to clinch the trophy at stake by virtue of the four points in its kitty.

On the opening day of the Super Four championship, the match between Warri Wolves and Bayelsa United ended in a barren draw to the disappointment of fans of the Bayelsa State team who had expected their players to win the match convincingly having just bounced back to reckoning in the CAF Confederation with an empathetic 4-0 drubbing of visiting Primeiro de Agosta of Angola.

In the second match which was shifted to the next day, Enyimba FC of Aba did not show any respect for Heartland’s rising profile in the CAF Champions League as the former African Champions ran away with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a last gasp goal from substitute Ejike Bright.

The next round of matches played saw Heartland beating Warri Wolves to brighten their chances of winning the trophy today should Enyimba lose by a wide margin to Wolves. On the other hand, Enyimba in its second match drew with Bayelsa United to give Heartland a glimmer of hope.

Trustsports gathered that there will be no grand finals as the team with the highest points from three matches will automatically smile to the bank with a whooping sum of N5m plus a giant trophy.

As it is, if toady, Enyimba wins against Warri Wolves who have just a point out of two matches, they will not have to depend on the outcome of the match between Heartland and Bayelsa to go home with the trophy at stake. If Heartland draws with Baylesa, Enyimba will still win with a draw against their opponent.

However, if something goes wrong with the above permutation and Warri Wolves shock Enyimba with a defeat in their final match, then a win for Heartland over Bayelsa United will see them retuning to Owerri with the coveted trophy.

Although football is not mathematics where one plus one is two, if Enyimba’s records are anything to go by, they should have no problem grabbing the maximum points against their less fancied opponents in today’s match.

On the other hand, Heartland may like to pay Bayelsa United back in their own coin for denying them the opportunity of winning this year’s Globacom premier league. If they win against Bayelsa, they will still have to pray for Warri Wolves to beat Enyimba. Beating Enyimba can be an uphill task for Warri Wolves any day.