Enyimba go top of Group A despite goalless draw with Akwa United

NPFL Enyimba go top of Group A despite goalless draw with Akwa United

Jidechi Chidiezie 19:13 - 18.01.2023

The eight-time Nigerian champions with 4 points, lead Group A for now, but could drop from the position on Thursday.

Seven-time Nigerian champions Enyimba were unable to produce any goals and had to settle for a point after playing out a 0-0 draw with Akwa United on Wednesday.

It was the second match of the 2023 NPFL for both the People's Elephants and the Promise Keepers who, sit in opposite positions on the Group A league table.

The fixture also marked a return to the Enyimba Stadium in Aba for the hosts who hadn't played a competitive game in front of their home fans since the league ended last July.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.ug/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

End-to-end drama with no goals

Having secured a victory away from home in the first week of the season, Enyimba went into Wednesday's fixture as a better-positioned team on the league table.

However, it did not mean much as their attempts to score goals in the first half through Chibuike Nwaiwu and Chijioke Mbaoma all went wide.

Akwa United had their own first-half chances, the best coming from James Ajako in the 41st minute, however, his long-range shot rattled the crossbar, only to bounce off.

Enyimba's position to likely change on Thursday

The second half was pretty much similar scenarios like the first with both sides struggling to break the deadlock.

Goalless was how the game ended at full-time, with Enyimba moving to the top of Group A, and Akwa United picking their first point of the season, after having lost their opening-day fixture at home to Bendel Insurance.

Thursday will see the rest of the matches in Group A take centre stage, with the results from four venues likely to restructure the current standings.

Related content