The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SHARKS

  • Sharks are in high spirit-Odinga

    Sharks are in high spirit-Odinga

    As sharks Football club of Port Harcourt are set to engage El Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri in a week 29 encounter in the Nigeria Professional Football League today, and captain of the side, Odinga Odinga says they will take the game to the homers when both sides file out for action.

    Odinga said he is optimistic the team will not disappoint Port Harcourt fans adding that even the weather condition will not be a problem because kick off time for the match is 2pm.

    “We have not come to Kano for fun but to fight for the three points from start to finish and the weather condition in Kano will not be a hindrance to a good game”Odinga said.

    The legend as he is called by fans of the team is elated with the atmosphere in camp, a condition that makes it glaring that they are in Kano for business.

    Odinga also does not think the long journey from Port Harcourt to Kano will any way affect the team.

    “I have never seen the boys behave the way they have done since we arrived Kano, the spirit is high and I can assure our fans that we are used to long journeys but this time it will amount to something more rewarding by the grace of God”. Odinga concluded.

  • Akwa United, Sharks pick home wins

    Akwa United, Sharks pick home wins

    Akwa United, Gombe United and Sharks secured important victories to aid their chances of either surviving the relegation chop or consolidating on their position on the league table after Week 28 Premier League games.

    Adio Yusuf and Utibe Achibong both scored their first goals for the Promise Keepers in their 2-0 home win over Giwa FC while Gombe United’s  Suleiman Usman was the match hero when his team beat Nasarawa United by a lone goal at the Pantami Stadium.

    Sharks also recorded a 3-0 win over Kaduna United thus giving them a reality check after the latter’s 5-0 thumping of Crown FC  last Sunday. Akwa United moved to 42 points while Gombe United increased their points haul to 35. Sharks have amassed 41 points from as many games after a goal laden win over Kaduna United.

    It was the right response to the Blue Angels 2-0 away loss to Nasarawa United in Lafia.

    Meanwhile at the Jolly Nyame Stadium in Jalingo, FC Taraba dropped further into the mire of relegation zone after they were held to a 2-2 draw by visiting Sunshine Stars yesterday.

    The Akure Gunners have now scooped 41 points from 28 games.

  • Dolphins disappointed, Sharks delighted

    Dolphins disappointed, Sharks delighted

    Dolphins coach Stanley Eguma has said he was disappointed with Sunday’s  0-0 draw with Sharks, whose coach Gbenga Ogunbote said he was happy with the point.

    The Port Harcourt derby saw Sharks peg back hosts Dolphins to a goalless draw in a Nigeria League Week 25 clash.

    Dolphins coach Eguma said they wanted the full marks at the expense of the city rivals.

    “It was a disappointment because we had planned to win,” he said.

    “It was a derby and it could be difficult at times as our opponents know us as well as we know them.”

    However, Eguma maintained the draw will not derail their title ambitions.

    “We will still work harder and try to get the points lost today from somewhere else. We are still in the race,” he said.

    Sharks coach Ogunbote, on the other hand, was delighted his team got a point from the game, saying every point won away from home was good.

    “A draw on the road is always something to be happy with,” Ogunbote said.

    Dolphins are fourth on the table with 39 points from 25 matches, while local rivals Sharks are eight spots below on 35 points.

  • ADEDEJI SEEKING ANOTHER FINE RUN FOR SHARKS

    ADEDEJI SEEKING ANOTHER FINE RUN FOR SHARKS

    SHARKS’ 2-0 win over Bayelsa United on Match Day 21 ended their four-match misery and brought a huge sigh of relief to the players and technical bench.

    That convincing display in Port Harcourt has also heightened the expectations of former junior international, Adeyinka Adedeji, who is now looking forward to their repeat of the early season good run that saw the club at the pinnacle of the log for as much as nine match days.

    Riding high on the crest of a 10-match unbeaten wave, Sharks eventually surrendered their invincibility on Match Day 17 in a fixture away to FC Taraba and followed up that loss with three other defeats to champions Kano Pillars and Akwa United (who beat them home and away).

    But former Flying Eagles star, Adedeji, who put up an impressive display in Sharks’ home win during which he set-up the team’s opening goal for Abraham Okereke, told www.lmc-ng.org after the encounter that the team’s unity in the face of a bad spell has paid off.

    “Before the game, every one of us spoke with one another, we’ve lost four games consecutively and we don’t want to start our home run in the second stanza that way. So we decided to make it count,” said the former Shooting Stars player.

    Adedeji, a member of the silver-winning Holland 2005 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, is gradually becoming a regular in the Sharks side after being frozen out of the squad at the start of the campaign partly due to injury and partly due to the good form of Chima Akas. He has high hopes that Wednesday’s win has signaled the start of another good run.

    “This is a good start for us, we’ve done it before, going ten games undefeated so we just have to keep our heads up and hope to follow it up with our next game against Lobi Stars and let’s see how it goes from there,” Adedeji remarked.

  • Ogunbote blames careless moments for Sharks’ exit

    Ogunbote blames careless moments for Sharks’ exit

    Sharks coach, Gbenga Ogunbote has blamed their Nigerian football federations cup exit on some ‘careless moments’, after they lost 2-0 to defending champions, Enyimba.

    Two goals in the 23rd and 37th minutes from Kingsley Sokari and Raphael Boumsong respectively ensured Enyimba progressed to the semi final and halted Sharks’ hopes of winning the title this season.

    And Ogunbote told SL10 they should have won the game, “It was a game I thought we should have won, but for some careless moments,” he said.

    The ‘Blue Angels’ dominated possession within the first fifteen minutes, and probably should have taken the lead, but failed to create enough goal-scoring opportunities, which Enyimba capitalised upon to score their first goal through Sokari, who has been in impressive form for the People’s Elephants.

    And Ogunbote has rued their failure to make their possession count.

    “We controlled the game at some point, and I thought we should have created chances, but we didn’t. In the end, we paid dearly for it.”

    Ogunbote went on to allude that referee Benjamin Odey from Cross River State may not have been fair in his officiating, sarcastically describing both Enyimba goals as ‘fantastic’.

    “The first goal was fantastic, the second goal was fantastic as well. You can analyze them yourself,” he said.

    And when pressed if he thought the officiating should have been better, he said: “It’s your opinion, but you saw the game, did you think it was poorly officiated?” he asked rather sarcastically.

    “On a normal day we would have won,” he ended.

    Meanwhile, Enyimba captain Chinedu Udoji says they just have to take the games as they come before thinking of playing in the final again.

    “We’re not thinking of the final yet, we just have to play the next game and then see how it goes. We hope to win it again, but we can’t think about that now. The next game comes first,” he told SL10.

  • Akwa United vow to compound Sharks’ woes

    Akwa United’s technical adviser Patrick Udoh has said his side will compound the woes of Sharks after their Federation Cup quarter final ouster at the hands of holders Enyimba.

    The Promise Keepers will host the Garden City landlords in the restart of Glo Premier League match day 20 tie on Sunday at the Uyo Township Stadium.

    Udoh said his wards will go for the maximum points against Sharks to quicken their return to the league summit.

    “We’re poised to compound Sharks’ woes when we clash on Sunday in Uyo. Sharks won’t leave Uyo unscathed and untouched no matter how much they try, we need the maximum three points badly to help our quest to return to the top.

    “We can’t do anything contrary to help Sharks as three points in the game is the surest way to position ourselves to climb to the top spot.

    “We took three points off Sharks in Port Harcourt and we’re determined to make it a double. That’s six points, we can’t be blamed for choosing the path,” said Udoh to supersport.com.

    Udoh said the switch of his prolific striker Ubong Ekpai to Nigerian champions Kano Pillars will not hurt his side’s fortunes in the league.

    “We have many Ubong Ekpais in Akwa United though as a person I’ll miss his services, but our job as coaches is to develop talents.

    “We have several of such talents from the academy and grassroots who are currently making waves, I’m sure they’ll perfectly fit into the vacant shoes of Ekpai.

    “There are scores of such players so I don’t think Ekpai’s exit will hurt our fortunes badly,” said Udoh.

    The Uyo-based side will restart the season on the strength of their eighth finish on 28 points, six points behind leaders Kano Pillars.

  • ENYIMBA 2-0 SHARKS: Ayansi, Ogunbote disagree over ref’s performance

    REFEREE Ben Odeh was in the spotlight yesterday as Enyimba International Football Club of Aba overpowered a hard-fighting Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt 2-0 to sail through to the semi-finals of the Federation Cup.

    The Gbenga Odubote-tutored Sharks bowed 2-0 to the superior fireworks of Enyimba at the Goal Project Centre of the Abuja National Stadium, as Sokari Kingsley and Raphael Boumsong scored in the 24th and 35th minutes of the game to seal the semi-final slot for the Aba-based side.

    Referee Ben Odeh gave Emeka Nwana his marching orders in the 72nd minute for foul charge on a Sharks player but that was not enough to stop Enyimba from cruising to the last four of the competition.

    The Sharks bench was clearly unhappy with the performance of referee Odeh and the club’s General Manger Okeh Kpalukwu reacted angrily against the referee after the match. Sharks’ Technical Adviser Gbenga Ogunbote also did not hide his annoyance.

    “It is unfortunate that we lost the game and we all saw what happened during the match. I don’t know what to say than that we lost under pains.

    “I don’t discuss officiating but I dare you  people to write what you have watched here today.

    “It is unfortunate that we lost because we had some careless moments during the course of the game and we paid dearly for it.

    “But I am sure that we wouldn’t have lost this way if things were normal. That is just the truth”, Ogunbote told SportingLife shortly after the match.

    But Enyimba International FC boss Felix Anyansi-Agu strongly disagreed with Ogunbote and asked him and his club to take the result of the match in good faith and in the spirit of sportsmanship.

    “The good thing about the club is that Enyimba will always be Enyimba and in Federation Cup competition there are bound to be surprises.

    “As regards the outcome of this match, the match has been won and lost. It is high time we learnt how to accept result of matches in the spirit of good sportsmanship.

    “So I don’t want to comment on whether the two goals we (Enyimba) scored were good or not.

    “People watched this match and the match has been won and lost. That is just it”, Anyansi also told SportingLife.

  • ‘Sharks had it easy against Dynamite FC’

    ‘Sharks had it easy against Dynamite FC’

    Sharks Football Club of Port-Harcourt goalkeeper, Danladi Issah, has admitted that his side had an easy game in their 2-0 win over Dynamite FC of Benin City in the Federation Cup round of 16 clash on Thursday.

    Two goals in each half of the encounter was all the Blue Angels needed to book a quater-final ticket at the expense of giant killers, Dynamite FC.

    Kelly Kester opened scoring for Sharks in the 6th minute when he volleyed home a cross from right wing-back Odinga Odinga to unsettle the non-league side who were relying on a fast break to find the back of the net.

    Christian Pyagbara netted the second goal for the coach Gbenga Ogunbote-tutored side twenty eight minutes into the second half after receiving a long pass from Fredrick Obomate, before shooting into the far right of the net.

    Dynamite’s attempt to get a lifeline did not yield any fruit as the heavily built Issah did his all to enjoy another 90minutes of action without conceding a goal.

    Issah, who was rattled twice in the match, said he had expected a more difficult opposition from the side that edged out Ranchers Bees and 3SC Football Club in the round of 64 and 32 respectively.

    “I never thought it would go like this, luckily for us we had it easy,” Issah said.

    “I guess Kelly’s early goal unsettled them and the second goal scored by Pyagbara in the second half was a beauty to behold.”

    Issah, Sharks’ safest hands, then said he was looking forward to the quarter final match, irrespective of the opposition.

    “Anything can happen in the game of football. Don’t forget we defeated Heartland in the round of 32, so it does not matter who our next opponents will be, we are ready,” he boasted.

  • Sharks to scale past Enyimba—Adedeji

    Sharks defender Yinka Adedeji has told AfricanFootball.com that the Port Harcourt club hope to go past cup holders Enyimba on Wednesday to reach the last four of the Nigeria Federation Cup.

    Sharks defeated giant killers Dynamite FC 2-0 in the round of 16, while Enyimba saw off Nembe City 2-1 to set up an explosive quarterfinal clash between the two Premier League sides.

    “Our aim is to win the cup. We are now in the quarterfinal. We are going to approach the game against Enyimba same way we did our other games,” the former Flying Eagles star said.

    “Our target is to win the game and that was our aim for previous games.”

     

  • Wolves battle Sharks with depleted side

    Wolves battle Sharks with depleted side

    Warri Wolves are going  to be without the services of key four players when they take on table toppers Sharks of Porthacourt in Warri.

    Ikechukwu Ibenegbu popularly called “Mosquito” will miss the vital clash after picking up an ankle compliant on his return from a two-month injury lay-off against Crown on Sunday.

    Also Goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, and central defender Azubuike Egwuekwe will be absent from the Sharks game as they are expected to fly out with the Super Eagles technical crew to London for the friendly game against Scotland.

    Another sure absentee will be Azubuike Egwuekwe’s defensive partner Ikechukwu Thankgod who is out due to the suspension.

    Sharks will be hoping to capitalise on the above mention absentees in goal, defence and midfield to consolidate their grip on the top spot in the league.

    Today’s game against Warri Wolves will go a long way in determining if Sharks Fc who have topped the league for eight weeks now are genuine title contender or pretenders.

    Warri Wolves on their part will be hoping star striker Gbolahan Salami continues in his good form as he faces his former manager at Sunshine Stars Gbenga Ogunbote after their infamous fight that lead to his leaving Sunshine Stars four season’s ago.