Heartland, CHAN Eagles in barren opener

Heartland FC of Owerri, the Naze Millionaires, that bounced back to the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) after spending a season at the lower division, recorded a barren draw against the visiting Sunshine Stars of Akure on Sunday at Dan Anyian Stadium, Owerri in its first game of the season.
The returnee Heartland’s gaffer, Ranson Madu, explained after the match, that his boys played the game of their life but it was unfortunate that they failed to score even as he promised to correct noticed lapses before their next game against Enyimba International in Calabar.
Other drawn  home games included Katsina United that played 2-goal-apiece with Kano Pillars and Lobi Stars 1-1 versus Enyimba, while the defending champions, Plateau United, recorded away win 1-0 against Nasarawa United and Niger Tornados won 2-0 against Kwara United. The rest of the hosting teams won their games.
Supporting the views of his coach, Heartland skipper, who was voted the man of the match, concurred that they will get a result at the midweek fixture at Calaber against the Elephants of Aba.
Meanwhile, the home based Super Eagles played a barren draw with the Amavubi of Rwanda in the Group B opening game of Africa Nations Cup Championship (CHAN 2018) being hosted by Morocco.
The Salisu Yusuf tinkered Eagles failed to rattle Amavubi and were wasteful of the chances that came their way even as the centre referee ruled the 57th minutes Eze’s goal as off-side.
However, in another opening encounter, Libya thrashed Equatorial Guinea 3-0.
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