It was a festival of goals at the Remo Stars Stadium, Ikenne, as Remo Stars survived a stunning second-half fightback to beat Best Talent FC 5-3 in a pulsating friendly.
The Sky Blue Stars started brightly and opened scoring in the 20th minute after slicing through Best Talent’s defence. Six minutes later, they doubled the lead to make it 2-0 at halftime, despite attacking threats from Usman Musa, Oluwayinka Oreoluwa and Asaolu Joshua.
Best Talent coach, Farouk Yusuf, brought changes before the break, introducing Olaniyan Ezekiel and Fadeyi Joshua for Joseph Emmanuel and goalkeeper Joel Jarious to inject fresh energy.
But Remo Stars made it 3-0 in the 56th minute and looked home and dry.
The Best Talent forward ignited the comeback in the 63rd minute with a fine finish to make it 3-1. In the 70th minute, Musa again made it 3-2, throwing the game wide open and putting the former NPFL champions under intense pressure.
Coach Yusuf sent in more attacking options, Sodiq and Smart, for Ahmad Mohammad Cisse and Oluwayinka Oreoluwa.
The changes paid off. In the 92nd minute, Musa completed his hat-trick to make it 3-3, completing a remarkable recovery from three goals down.
Best Talent pushed for a winner but lost concentration at the back. Remo Stars punished them with two late goals in the 95th and 97th minutes to seal a dramatic 5-3 victory.
Despite the loss, Coach Farouk Yusuf commended his boys for their strength of character.
He said his players deserve commendation for going toe-to-toe with Remo Stars and fighting back from 3-0 down to level against the former NPFL champions on their home ground, noting that a momentary loss of concentration and eagerness to snatch victory cost them the game.
Source/Sunday Agumbiade
