A brace by Afolabi Okiki and another goal by skipper Abe Sunday ensured Sunshine Stars edged Wikki Tourists on Match Day 18 Nigeria Professional Football League, (NPFL) It ended 3-1 at the Akure Township Stadium with Wikki Tourists coach Abdu Maikaba lamenting that his side committed series of avoidable errors.
Maikaba, whose team has been rubbing shoulders with others in the the top four end of the log, would still insist that he was happy with the way his team played and described their defeat as lesson they would learn from.
"I'm happy about the way my team played in Akure though we didn't win. We conceded the goals through avoidable mistakes but that's football. Losing in Akure taught us a tough lesson which we will correct going into our next game," said Maikaba.
From his counterpart on the other side of the dugout, Solomon Ogbeide came an expression of near contentment that Sunshine Stars are gradually blending into a solid formation that still requires some tactical strengthening to withstand the usually tough second half of the season.
Ogbeide told npfl.ng in a post-match conference that his team was just coming up to jell, but expressed happiness that they defeated Wikki Tourists to claim all three points.
"We need to work harder, because things will not be the same in the second round. For now, we are okay with the playing staff, so all that we need is to tutor our goal machines to do more," Ogbeide said.
Okiki had opened the floodgate of goals for the home team on 29 minutes and was on target again about eight minutes into the second half of the highly entertaining match while skipper Abe Sunday put an icing on the cake for Sunshine with a sublime strike about six minutes to full time.
What proved to be a consolatory goal for the visitors on the day came from skipper Godwin Obaje just before the interval.
Sunshine's approach to the game showed Ogbeide's intent to come out clean with Afolabi Okiki, Dayo Ojo and Rasak Adegbite riding the momentum to build their attack but no goal showed for their initial efforts.
Wikki's backline marshalled by Nura Mohammed and Harrison Madu stood firm to ward off incursions from the highly mobile Sunshine strikers.
The visitors were further locked down in their half leaving Abubakar Lawal, Godwin Obaje and Ahmed Mohammed helpless upfront and unable to have a sight at goal.
On a day the hosts first choice goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa was not in the starting line-up, it was expected that the team from Bauchi would snatch the opportunity to upset the home side. But it emerged that Wikki lacked the confidence and played below par.
Okiki first netted from the penalty spot after Madu had handled the ball. Godwin Obaje proved again why he is the league's top marksman when and he beat an offside trap to level scores few minutes after they went down. Okiki would complete his brace later in the second half to restore their lead and bring some assurance to the stands that the Stars would shine for that day. It was a goal that further restricted Wikki Tourists at a time they were expected to fight back.
While the scoreline was still 2-1 with less than ten minutes to full time, the Tourists were still working and dreaming of a possible away draw when skipper Abe Sunday pounced on a pass and jabbed in the third goal that killed off Wikki's fight on 84 minutes.