Nigeria Premier League: Gombe United gets first away victory

High riding Gombe United FC  on sunday continued her impressive start to the 2011/12 Nigeria Premier League season as the Manu Garuba tutored side defeated Kaduna United by a lone goal in a highly entertaining match at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa stadium in Kaduna.

The win is the first away victory to be recorded by any team in the current league season.

With this latest victory, Gombe United now occupies top spot on the log with 10 points from 4 games.

In a phone chat with Premium Times Sports, coach Manu Garba said he was impressed with the performance of his boys but hopes they can sustain the tempo when push gets to shove.

“Of course am very happy with the win, we will however not allow it to go into our head because we still have a long way to go” he said. “The league is a marathon not a sprint race”

Gombe United striker, Ibrahim Babadidi, had also scored this season’s first hat trick.

Other games

In other games played on Sunday, the highly anticipated Ilorin El classico between Kwara United and ABS ended in a stalemate as both teams failed to find the back of the net.

Also in Port Harcourt, reigning champions, Dolphins FC, laboured to a 1-0 win over Enugu Rangers.

While in Yenegoa, newly promoted Akwa United forced their host Ocean Boys to a 1-1 draw.

The last fixture of the day which was to be between Lobi Stars and Sunshine Stars did not hold as Sunshine complained of an armed robbery attack on their way to Markurdi.

It is still not clear if the NPL will rescheduled the game or will award three points and three goals to Lobi stars if it rules the game as a walkover.