The Solid Miners avenged their nail-biting loss to fellow Nigeria Professional Football League side, Wikki Tourists in a first-leg pre-season friendly match at the New Jos Stadium, Plateau State, by claiming a 2-0 win in the reverse fixture at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi, Thursday afternoon.
Nelson Abiam had silenced fans of United on Wednesday with his thunderbolt set piece strike in the 49th minute to expose the Solid Miners to their first defeat in four games since moving to Jos for continuation of their Pre-season activities.
Twenty-four hours later, United overturned the result as they shocked Wikki 2-0 in front of their home fans in Bauchi.
The Big Elephants of Bauchi were punished by their former player, Anas Yusuf, who lashed a shot into the upright after Ayuba Francis’ dangerous ball cannoned off the leg of a Wikki defender to give his side the lead, ten minutes into the first-half.
The visitors’ persistent domination after netting their first goal yielded a positive result after Emmanuel Ogbole was picked up by Suleiman Akoza’s diagonal cross inside the box with the former squaring the ball past Mohammed Galadima, a former Goalkeeper with the Solid Miners, to make it 2-0, fifteen minutes to regulation time.
The home side made frantic efforts to pacify their appetite, but the defence of United made their territory impenetrable.
As the clash approached the closing stages, United who were the better side of the afternoon fluffed a flurry of goalscoring opportunities to the disappointment of the bench.
Though seven minutes were added after full-time, Nasarawa United ran away with the victory and instantly paid Wikki in their own coins.
The team have since returned to Jos where they will confront Jazzy Stars FC in another Pre-season clash on Friday morning at the New Jos Stadium.
/Eche Amos
