Three first half goals off the boots of Frank Uwumiro, Kenneth Igboke and Ifeanyi Onyebuchi helped reigning NPFL champions annex the maximum points at stake and extend its unbeaten run to seven matches as visiting Lobi Stars F.C of Makurdi was overwhelmed 3-0 in a match day 14, NPFL 2024/2025 fixture that took place inside Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, midweek.

After taking the kickoff and making some unforced errors in the early part of the encounter, the coach Fidelis Ilechukwu tutored side soon settled into its stride with some neat interchange of passes and fluidity in the middle of the pack that had Chinemerem Ugwueze, Kazeem Ogunleye, Isaac Saviour and Ejike Ugochukwu serving the two front men effectively.

As early as the 4th minute, Ogunleye had priced open the backline of the visitors with a telegraphic pass that found national U-20 WAFU-B winning assistant captain, Kenneth Igboke whose inch-perfect cross narrowly missed connection into the net by Isaac Saviour while on 17 minutes, goalkeeper, Emmanuel Daniel had to produce a sharp reflex to stop an Isaac Saviour’ pile-dive from thirty yards out.

The floodgate of goals opened on 27 minutes after Isaac Saviour served Godwin Obaje with a sumptuous pass which the attacker laid perfectly for his twin-striker to bury beyond a stranded Emmanuel Daniel as the home fans went on a frenzy and three minutes later, Kenneth Igboke unleashed a canon of a shot from the edge of the box after dribbling past his marker to find the bottom corner of the net as the fans continued their celebrations.

On the stroke of half time, defense marshall, Ifeanyi Onyebuchi stabbed home the third goal for the Enugu side after Isaac Saviour’ deflected shot off a short corner-kick fell kindly for him at the far post just as the goalkeeper for Lobi Stars did well to stop Obaje’ left footed effort a few minutes earlier.

In the second period, Kazeem Ogunleye’ effort was ruled out for a posible offside position on 48 minutes as the ‘Yes Father Boys’ fortified their backline to stop further leaking of goals as the ‘Flying Antelopes’ eased to a comfortable win ahead of match day 15, ‘Oriental Derby’ against fierce rivals, Enyimba International F.C of Aba which has been re-arranged by the league organizers for Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at the Enyimba Stadium, Aba.

With the win, Rangers now occupy the 3rd position on the log with 23 points behind the duo of Remo Stars and Rivers United who are both on 26 points.

Chief coach of Rangers, Ekeh Ekenedilichukwu, said in a post match chat, “It was a great game which produced some fine goals and we were unlucky not to have scored more against a quality side that came out stronger in the second half. We thank God for the win and congratulate the players for playing to instructions of the coaches. We shall keep working on the gray areas in the team as we are still a work in progress.”

Defense General, Ifeanyi Onyebuchi who was amongst the goals in the encounter, said, “It was a great game against a difficult side but we were determined to get the result. I am really happy for my goal and hope to score more and help the team achieve our collective goals for the season.”