Bendel Insurance Football Club of Benin on Saturday, January 6, 2024, began the new year on a positive note, beating highly tactical Rangers Int’l of Enugu by two goals to nothing in the week 17 game of the Nigeria Premier Football League.
The convincing victory and defensive mechanism of the Benin Arsenals left the flying Antelopes dazed after throwing everything at the coach Monday Odigie led side without any goal for their fine play.
Osaghae Jr opened scoring for the Benin Arsenals 14 minutes into the star match
at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin today. Osaghae Jr headed home Paul Obata’s cross from a free kick when he was left unmarked by Rangers who looked too confident.
Sarki Ismael netted the second goal to put the game out of the reach of coach Fidelis Ilechuku’s side in the 63rd minute of play when Goalkeeper Detan Ogundare recklessly gifted the ball to Sarki Ismael who calmly slotted it in to make it 2-0 for the hosts.
Rangers however remained unruffled after Insurance FC had taken the lead in the 14th minute of play as they mounted pressure on their hosts who approached the game courteously with a plan that eventually hypnotized the roaring visitors.
The Benin Arsenals’ Goalkeeper Amas Obasogie, Sunday Anyanwu and Tanimu Benjamin, Ebuka Akonbudu, Julius Emiloju, and Stephens Sodje gave it a hundred percent concentration, making the Insurance defense line difficult for the Flying Antelopes to break.
Insurance FC now has 27 points ahead of their visit to Bayelsa state for the week 18 clash with Bayelsa Utd on Sunday, January 14 in Yenagoa.
In a post-match interview, the head coach and Technical Director of Bendel Insurance FC Monday Odigie gave kudos to his boys for rising to the challenge posed by their visitors.
” I am happy we won the game and I’m happy that Insurance players rose to the occasion. We don’t have big players hence we always try to discipline ourselves tactically. On why he did not start his star midfielder Divine Nwachukwu whose introduction in the second half impacted the team immediately, coach Odigie explained: “We try to do our best to save our players. Divine Nwachukwu just returned from injury and it is not proper to throw him into the thick. We want to manage them to be available for the entire season.”
Rangers coach Fidelis Ilechuku on the other hand, said that his boys did their best but that it was not their day. When asked about rating Insurance with Rangers, Ilechuku said that football these days is not about big names or how long a club is in existence but the quality, insisting that any well-prepared team can win anywhere.
” For me, football is football and with the kind of football we play these days, a team like Doma Utd if underestimated can mess you up. The game has come and gone, we will just take some lessons from it and plan on winning our next game.” He said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State Council Comrade Festus Alenkhe has continued to redeem his pledge to encourage players of Bendel Insurance on goal scoring and general good performance of the team as he rewarded Osaghae Jr for scoring Insurance’s first goal against Rangers with cash and survenir just as the captain of the Benin Arsenals Maurice Prince also received a cheque of N2.5M match winner star prize from Afrinvest.
Comrade Festus Alenkhe JP has been consistent with his support for Bendel Insurance FC since last season.
