Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) emerged champions of the NPFL-Dozy Mmobuosi Super Cup after coming from behind twice to defeat Enyimba 3-2 at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan in Lagos on Friday.
Earlier on Thursday, Bendel Insurance finished third in the tournament sponsored by Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation that also provided medical outreach services for free prostrate cancer screening. Insurance came from behind to beat Rangers 2-1
The tournament finals was watched by the hierarchy of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) which included the President, Ibrahim Gusau, first Vice President, Felix Anyansi Agwu and General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi. Also on hand to watch the pulsating finals were the MD/CEO of Tingo Media Group, Martin Ebuwa Agbonwaneten, Head of Human Resources, Busayo Ayenimo and COO Tingo Media Group, Peter Owoloko . It had a total prize of ₦100m.
The Ibadan club were always the underdogs heading into the contest despite their impressive show in previous matches against Bendel Insurance (3-0), Rangers (1-1) and Enyimba (0-0) in the round-robin stage.
It was Enyimba who lived up to their pre-match favourites rating. Six minutes into the match, Fatai Abdullahi’s free kick skimmed the wall of 3SC to hand the eight-time NPFL winners the lead.
Enyimba’s lead lasted just seven minutes, Taofeek Malomo drew 3SC level but the Aba side restored their lead with 15 minutes to the break through Eze Ekwutoziam. The People’s Elephant went into the locker room with the advantage.
Shooting Stars looked a different side in the second 45 minutes with the runs of Anthony Okachi and Malomo causing Enyimba’s defence problems.
On the hour mark, Kelly Kester produced an individual brilliance to even the score at 2-2 for 3SC. The midfielder picked the ball halfway in the field, pushed forward against a backtracking Enyimba defence, then curled his attempt beyond a despairing goalkeeper John Noble.
At this point, the game was balanced. Shooting Stars then produced the final act when Okachi scored the winner in the 87th minute. Okachi would go on to win the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) while Enyimba’s Chijioke Mbaoma scouped the Highest Goal Scorer award which attracted ₦1m each for the two players
