Tag: LOBI STARS

Lobi Stars of Makurdi were humiliated 3-1 at the newly refurbished Aper Aku stadium by the Nigeria Under-23 side in a friendly game organised to celebrate the successful renovation of the stadium.

The early exchange was fairly even but one moment of brilliance from Uche Ihuarulam in the 10th minute gave Lobi Stars the lead.

The former Bayelsa United man released a bullet of a shot that left Abiodun Akande in goal for the Nigeria Under-23 with no chance.

Lobi Stars’ lead didn’t last too long before Godwin Saviour pounced to draw the boys of Samson Siasia level.

The goal brought calm to the play of the Nigeria Under-23 side as they seized control of the game with Junior Ajayi guilty of wasting a good chance to give them the lead.

He made amends for his miss a minute later when he reacted quickly to a spilled shot to put his team ahead for the first time in the game.

Things got worst for Lobi stars when new signing Shehu Nasiru turned a ball from Ajayi into his own net for an own goal that saw his team go 3-1 down.

The half ended 3-1 in favour of the Nigeria Olympics team popularly referred to as Dream Team VI.

The second half produced no goals as goal action moments failed to materialise ending the game 3-1 in favour of the national team as they get set for their All Africa Games qualifier against Zambia.

Lobi Stars Team  Manager Banabas Imenger has told SportingLife that his side will start their pre-season activities next week as part of preparations for the 2014/2015 season.

The ex-international said the team’s preparation is going on as planned and they are ready to camp outside Markurdi subject to the approval of the club’s Vice-Chairman Dominic Iorfa.

He revealed that all the old players had resumed training with two new players after finalising their contract deal with their former clubs while still expecting two new players.

The former Lobi Stars legend informed that his side will play four Grade A friendly matches with top clubs in the league before the commencement of the league.

“We are already in camp in Markurdi but we will start our pre-season matches next week. We have all our plans on ground but we are waiting for the approval of the vice-chairman before we embark on it. We are thinking of moving out of Markurdi so as to have full concentration,” Imenger told SportingLife.

“We are taking cognisance of the election time table and I don’t think it will affect our preparation in anyway. We want to start the pre-season games low key before embarking on top grade friendly matches. We have contacted some clubs and I can assure you that we will play four Grade A friendly matches before we resume for the new season. We want full concentration so as to blend  the new and old players together,”he said.

• Advises LMC to act on disparaging comments on match officials

Lobi Stars Vice Chairman, Dominic Iorfa has implored the League Management Company (LMC) to warn premier league players to concentrate on playing the game solely and stop making disparaging comments about match officials in the media.

Iorfa advised that players that default on this should be severely sanctioned by the LMC to ensure that footballers stop maligning the names of match officials at the detriment of their major pre-occupation – to play football.

The former Super Eagles’ striker told SportingLife that he was miffed at a certain player of Gombe United who made unguarded utterances on the person of centre referee Hamza Garba when Lobi hosted Gombe United in one of the Week Three matches last weekend.

Iorfa revealed that Lobi scored two credible goals that was not faulted by any of the Desert Scorpions’ officials including their head coach, Maurice Cooreman who is a known critic of match officials if he were to be allegedly robbed of victory.

He praised the good work of the Nigerian referees adding that this season’s campaign would be the first in the last five years where good officiating has heralded the start of the league and urged them to keep it up.

The one-time QPR of England forward encouraged the LMC to sanction players that try to bring the work of the match officials to disrepute without facts so as to serve as deterrent to others.

“Players’ are to play the game and to leave most comments especially about match officials to their officials. Players should be stopped from making disparaging comments about the referees. It is becoming part of them to wrongfully attack the referees in the media when results do not go their way.

“The LMC should ensure that erring players are severely dealt with to serve as an example to other players,” Iorfa said.

Let them concentrate on playing the beautiful game and not look down on the match officials. Nigerian referees have been striving to improve daily and I must admit that this is the best start by the match officials in the last five years. “The officiating has improved in all the centres and whoever is complaining about dubious officiating should first look at the sort of players they have recruited. The LMC must act on this to save our referees from further abuse and molestation on the pages of newspapers,” he concluded.

Premier League side, Lobi Stars, have announced the signing of Nigerian international, Phillip Asuquo, for an undisclosed fee.

Lobi announced the midfielder’s arrival via their Twitter account, @LobiStars, on Saturday morning.

The creative midfielder, who is a great passer of the ball, has since joined Evans Ogenyi’s pre-season squad and was part of Friday’s friendly against FC Taraba, which ended 1-0 in favour of the Makurdi side.

“Asuquo is an intelligent playmaker who will boost our squad,” Ogenyi said to supersport.com

after his team bounced back to winning ways on Friday.

Supersport.com learnt that Asuquo’s representatives and top officials of the former Nigerian champions are close to completing paper the works.

Asuquo was a revelation at Crown FC during the 2010/11 season and headed for 3SC during the 2011/12 season, where he attracted the attention of Super Eagles supremo, Stephen Keshi.

Champions, Kano Pillars and Sunshine Stars were initially linked to the midfielder.

Lobi will face Asuquo’s former team in the top flight, Crown, when the new season begins.

Experienced campaigner, Ukeyima Akombo, has expressed satisfaction with the chance to continue his football at premier league campaigners, Lobi Stars. It’s the first time Akombo, who hails from Benue State, will play for the state owned club.

“I wanted a chance to play football regularly and decided to switch to Lobi after discussing with the club’s technical director, Dominic Iorfa and head coach, Evans Ogenyi. It wasn’t difficult to accept the offer because I’m from Benue and I saw it as an opportunity not only to play for the club, but also to contribute my quota to the growth of the team,” Akombo said to supersport.com.

Interestingly, Ukeyima’s brother, Terhemen, has also returned to the club. Akombo has played for defunct Ebonyi Angels, Kwara United, Sunshine Stars and Enyimba.

After his first stint at Kwara United, he played in Sweden and Finland, before returning to the Ilorin side.