BY ADAMS JESSE. 

The Solid Miners were put to the cleaners by a more clinical Abia Warriors side at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
The game busted into life right from the very first minute as the Ochendo Boys as Abia Warriors are popularly known made their intentions known with series of attacking forays to put Nasarawa United on the back foot.

On the 13th minute Suraj Ayeleso in goal for Nasarawa United denied Shedrack Asiegbu with a spectacular save.

The pressure became much for the Solid Miners to contain and on the 20th minutes Abia Warriors went ahead when Effiong dribbled past Ayeleso before he tried locating Sunday Adetunji but Emmanuel Makama’s attempted clearance diverted the ball into the net.
Nasarawa United came to life after the goal with Thomas Zenke and Abdulrahman Bashir threatening but were unable to get past the Abia Warriors defenders.
Both teams kept pressing on with some silky interchanging of passes but none was able to score and on the 79th minutes Suraj Ayeleso came to the rescue as he pull off an Isaac Emeka’s goal bound freekick.

When all thought the game will end the way it was then a defining moment to seal the game came for Abia Warriors when Effiong was fouled by Nasarawa United’s Suraj Ayeleso in the danger area which left the referee with no choice than to point to the spot.
On the 85th minute  after much delay due to Effiong been attended to by the medical assistants, Sunday Adetunji steps up to convert from the penalty spot putting the game to bed.
Reacting after the game Nasarawa United’s gaffer Kabiru Dogo commended the match officials before moving on to attribute his team’s loss to their profligacy in front of goal.
  “It was a good game and I’ll like to congratulate Abia Warriors for a well deserved victor.
“My players lost a lot of goal scoring chances but we will head back home to correct some of these lapses.

“The struggle continues. No one is guaranteed to end at any position.  The league is remaining ten games and anything can still happen”, he responded when asked about the chances of his team finishing at the top four.

Coach Abdullahi Biffo commended the efforts of his boys after the game with Nasarawa United.
“The victory came at the right time coupled with the fact that we lost our last two games on the road.

“We were under immense pressure from those two games to deliver today and boys stepped up to win against a good side like Nasarawa United, This will ease the pressure heading into the next game”, he concluded.

Nasarawa United will temporarily occupy the Ninth position on the NPFL log with 38 points from 28 games while Abia Warriors moves up a place having acquired the same points with Nasarawa United from the same number of games.