Tag: Igbinoba

• Nasarawa Utd ace tight-lipped on future

Nasarawa United’s Esosa Igbinoba has revealed that he is still studying contract offers before him and is yet to decide if he will remain with the Solid Miners or leave for another club.

The former Lobi Stars’ attacking midfielder confirmed that some unnamed clubs had approached him with a view to signing him but disclosed that he won’t like to make any hasty decision and so he is taking his time to study the clubs’ offers before deciding the one that is best for his career.
Igbinoba has scored 26 goals in the last two seasons from his midfield position and his strong point is his efficiency from free kicks which he converted about five of his 11 goals of last season from.
The Edo-born player told SportingLife that there are a lot of things he is putting into consideration before agreeing to sign for any club and that part of it is that the club must match his ambition and have the desire to compete among the best in the league.

Nasarawa United attacking midfielder, Esosa Igbinoba says the Solid Miners have shifted their attention to the semi final of the Federation Cup slated for next week Saturday against Enyimba as their last hope towards picking a CAF Club competition ticket and are determined to give it their best shot.

The Lafia side ended the season 10th on the log with 50 points from 36 matches after they picked only a point on the road all season but dropped four points in Makurdi their makeshift home ground because of the repair work on the Lafia Township Stadium.

Igbinoba attributed Nasarawa United’s struggling in the league to their participation in the CAF Confederation Cup competition and that they had improved performances when they were eliminated.

He said they learnt a lot from their experience in the Africa second tier competition and that they would be delighted to make another appearance in it next season with better performance.

Igbinoba emerged  as the Lafia side second highest scorer behind striker, Abdulrahman Bashir with 11 goals and has set further targets ahead of himself after the completion of the current campaign.

Nasarawa United midfielder Esosa Igbinoba is the AfricanFootball.com Player of Week 35 after he inspired his club to edge past title chasers Wikki Tourists 2-1 at home.

Igbinoba popped up to draw hosts Nasarawa United level with Wikki Tourists before the Lafia club went on to win the game 2-1 in stoppage time at the weekend.

It was his 10th goal of the season.

The 23-year-old Igbinoba has been one of the most consistent goal scorers from the midfield in the league in the past three seasons.

Last season, he fired 15 goals, six more than the previous term.

Other nominees for the Player of Week 35 were Jimoh Oni (FC IfeanyiUbah); Guy Kuemian, the Ivorian striker who netted one of the goals as Rivers United shot back to the top of the table, and MFM striker Sikiru Olatobosun, who was also on target to end a long-drawn winless run by the Lagos club.

Nasarawa United highest goalscorer, Esosa Igbinoba has revealed to SportingLife that his major objective is to ensure that he betters the 15 goals he scored last season after he bagged a brace for his ninth goal of the season against FC IfeanyiUbah on Sunday in a NPFL Match Day 22 tie.

Igbinoba, who has played previously for Bendel Insurance and Lobi Stars before crossing to Nasarawa United few seasons ago, told SportingLife that he was delighted to add two goals to the seven he had before last weekend’s game against the Anambra Warriors.

He prophesied that he would not only better his 15 goals of last season but also strive to emerge as the highest goalscorer of the league at the end of the season despite having about five more goals at least to overtake the current pacesetters duo of Godwin Obaje of Wikki Tourists and Sunshine Stars’ Okiki Afolabi who are on 13 goals each.

Igbinoba told SportingLife that they are hoping to progress to the Federation Cup Round of 16 at the expense of God Round FC in their Wednesday tie in Enugu.

Nasarawa United match winner in the last two games, Esosa Igbinoba has set a 15-goal target for himself again at the end of the season which was the mark he attained last season from  his attacking midfield position.

Igbinoba started the season slowly one which he attributed to his a thigh injury he struggled with at the beginning of the season but after scoring three goals in his team’s last three matches against Pillars, Giwa FC and Plateau United the former Lobi Stars’ player has told SportingLife that he is back to his best.

He affirmed that Nasarawa United’s trying times were over and that shortly the Solid Miners would regain the form which made them among the best teams of last season.

Igbinoba told SportingLife: “I am grateful to God for the goals I have got already this season. It was not easy at the start of the season because of the thigh I sustained but I am in top shape now and raring to go. I hope to score at least 15 goals this season.”

Nasarawa United Midfielder, Esosa Igbinoba has maintained a consistent goal scoring form over the last two seasons, for a midfielder, a double digits return is quite unusual in a league as predictably tough as the NPFL but even shocking is that he has also not made been handed an international cap.

In an interview with footballlive.ng the player expressed frustration with the treatment of national team selectors as well as the conditions of playing in the NPFL.

Igbinoba revealed he would consider leaving the team and hinted he could represent another country. He finished with 24 goals in all competitions in the 2013/14 season and scored 15 last season to help the club qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup.

Nasarawa United Midfielder Esosa Igbinoba has told SportingLife that the race for the gong is still open and has vowed to score goals that will not only land the Solid Miners a continental ticket but will make him the best marksman for the season.

Igbinoba has scored 15 goals, same as Warri Wolves’ Gbolahan Salami but Tunde Adeniji of Sunshine Stars is on top of the two players with 16 goals ahead of the concluding fixtures where incidentally all the three players have the opportunity to add to the goals.

Igbinoba and Nasarawa United have a grudge match against Giwa FC in Lafia in which they must win to see if other results will produce what will take them to the continent while Salami’s Wolves and Adeniji’s Sunshine also have equally difficult ties at home to FC Taraba and Enyimba with a home victory a must for them too.

Igbinoba in a chat with SportingLife stated that he still wants to end the season as the highest goals scorer in Nigerian league and has emphasised that he hopes to net a couple of goals that will make his aspiration to become a reality.

He said he was slowed down by the malaria fever he battled with for over two weeks and that he has now been certified fit to play right from the away trip to FC IfeanyiUbah where he was introduced in the second half.

“I missed two matches which affected my desire to win the highest goals scorer’s award but I am fully fit now and I am hoping I could get some couple of goals for myself and also for the team as we go in search of a continental ticket,” he said.

Nasarawa United are sixth on the log with 60 points from 37 matches.