Dike, Owoeri Emerge Best April Performers

Panelists of Naijaligue.blogspot.com and Naijapremierleague.com have named Enugu Rangers’ head coach, Alphonsus Dike and John Owoeri of Heartland Football Club as the Manager and Player for the month of April on Monday.

Dike edged the likes of John Obuh of Sharks, Salisu Yusuf of Kano Pillars, Ben Duamlong of Gombe United and Justin Tenger of Kwara United to the Manager Award for April with just a point.

On the back of the Flying Antelopes unbeaten run in the month of April that includes two wins and a draw, Dike was picked for the award organised by Nigeria’s two biggest independent web portals on the Premier League.

However, Heartland returnee from trials with Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew, Owoeri stunned other candidates for the April Player of the Month Award with a last day performance in which he netted a hat-trick.

In keeping with its yardstick for selecting the Player of the Month, Naijaligue.blogspot.com and Naijapremierleague.com picked Owoeri for scoring three goals last month.

The Heartland diminutive wing attacker scored all three goals in last Thursday’s rescheduled fixture against Sunshine Stars at the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri.

Before Owoeri put up a five-star performance against Sunshine Stars to nick the April award, eight players were in line for the same award until last Thursday.

The eight players edged by Owoeri are Mannir Ubale (Bayelsa Utd), Pascal Ejike (Sharks), Victor Barnabas (Lobi Stars), Sibi Gwar (Kwara Utd), Juwon Oshaniwa (Sharks), Gambo Muhammad (Kano Pillars), Austin Kadiri (Zamfara Utd) and

Ibrahim Abdullahi (Gombe Utd).

This is the first time that Dike and Owoeri would be named as winners of the monthly award, which began in January 2010.

CEO of Naija Premier League Awards, Aikhoje Ojeikere, said plans are underway to recognise all the winners of the monthly award at the end of the season.

“We hope to give the winners some form of recognition for their achievement in this season’s league campaign. Hopefully this will be done at the end of the season,” he said.

Yaro-Yaro Targets Second Title With Pillars

After Sunday’s 4 - 0 pounding of highly rated Warri Wolves at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano, influential midfielder of Kano Pillars, Ahmed Garba, fondly called Yaro-Yaro, believes the club is on the verge of winning its second title.

Yaro-Yaro disclosed this to Naijapremierleague.com while assessing the performance of the team in Sunday’s epic league clash. 

“All we need to do is pray that we continue with this impressive form,” said the former Nigeria International and Denmark based star.

“We understand ourselves in Kano Pillars because we’ve been playing together for sometime,” he added.

Wolves got more than what they bargained for in a match that lived up to its rating despite the top fixtures in Sunday’s English Premier League with Chelsea and Manchester United struggling for the big prize.

Interestingly, Pillars played without league revelation and highest goalscorer, Ahmed Musa, who is still nursing an injury.

Speaking on the quality of players in Pillars, Yaro-Yaro said: “People don’t know that we have many good players in Pillars. We missed him on match day and we are expecting him to return back soon.”

With the absence of Musa, Pillars coach, Salisu Yusuf stated that the likes of Gambo Muhammad and Moses Ogaga would cover for the missing Musa.

Indeed, the players confirmed Yusuf’s statement as Muhammad got a brace while Ogaga and Solomon Okpako got one goal each to complete the annihilation of Wolves.

Like Musa, Yaro-Yaro was unavailable for selection on match day. Reacting on his absence, the former Denmark based player said: “You don’t change a winning team”

The 4 – 0 defeat is the worst suffered by Warri Wolves since joining the elite class in Nigeria’s Premier League.

– Culled from Naijapremierleague.com