Two Nigerian clubs gave the country something to cheer at the weekend, as Enyimba of aba reached the next round of the CAF Champions League and Rivers United of Port Harcourt made progress in the CAF Confederation Cup, 24 hours after Plateau United of Jos and Kano Pillars crashed in both competitions.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, while Nigerian fans were battling to come to grips with the painful exits of two of their top clubs on Saturday, Enyimba and Rivers United both survived massive scares at home to reach the first round of the Champions League and Confederation Cup respectively.
Sunday’s narrow escapes in The City of Elephants and Garden City were nerving but provided better comfort than a day earlier, when Plateau United and Kano Pillars failed to move to the next round of the two continental cub competitions.
Plateau United fell 1-0 on aggregate to Tanzania’s Simba SC in the Champions League, while Kano Pillars lost to ASC Jaraaf of Senegal 3-1 across both legs in the Confederation Cup; but Rivers United penalties’ shoot out to edge their opponents from Equatorial Guinea and Enyimba went through 2-1 on aggregate against Rahimo of Burkina Faso, after they drew 1-1 in Aba.
The People’s’ Elephant, two-time African champions in 2003 and 2004, won the first game in Burkina Faso 1-0 last weekend, and took another step forward on Sunday when skipper of the side, Austin Oladapo put them ahead on the hour.
However, it turned into a nervy affair for the hosts later on, as Papa Ware drew Rahimo level in the 75th minute, only for Enyimba defender, Imoh Obot getting sent off in stoppage time for a second booking, and the hosts had to battle all the way to a 1-1 draw at the final whistle.
In the Confederation Cup, Rivers United needed a penalty shoot out to go through to the next round, despite beating Futoro Kings of Equatorial Guinea 2-1 on Sunday, as they were tied at 3-3 after the visitors also won the first leg by the same result at home.
Godwin Aguda opened scoring for the hosts in the 12th minute and Kehinde Adedipe doubled the Port Harcourt team’s advantage in the 39th minute, but Futoro Kings roared back through Asu Pedro in the 52nd minute to take the encounter into a penalty shootout, which The Garden City side won 2-0 to advance.
