2017 Nigeria Professional Football League champions, Plateau United Football Club of Jos have strengthened their grip on top of the log after a slim two-one victory over hard fighting Kwara United of Ilorin in a week twenty five fixtures, decided at the new Jos stadium Wednesday.
Too striker, Mustapha Ibrahim scored a brace in the sixteenth and twenty sixth minutes to take his season,s tally to eleven before Ajibola Otegbeye capitalized on a defence blunder in Plateau United defence to score the consolation for the Afonja Warriors in the fifty one minute of the encounter.
The encounter which attracted a sizeable crowd however, saw Plateau United struggling to assert it’s authority in the match especially in the midfield where they held away.
This gave the initiative to the visitors where former Enyimba and Kano Pillars old warhorse , Kamal Sikiru brought his experience to bear as he continue to dictate the pace of the game to the advantage of Kwara United.
That advantage pile pressure on Plateau United defence , as the duo of Ikefe Andrew and Buhari Ibrahim find it difficult to contain the rampaging runs of Abdulwahab Afolabi and Ajibola Otegbeye who eventually pulled one back for the visitors.
The goal which gave the visitor a glimmer of hope unsettles Plateau United who despite creating numerous number if goalscoring chances, failed to convert any as Abba Umar who came close to scoring in several occasions, failed to find the back of the net for the Peace Boys.
The introduction of Uche Onoasonya and Benjamin Turba Midway into the second half could not produced any goal as the visitors defended stoutly by putting more men behind the ball especially in their half.
The victory which has now given Plateau United the three maximum points, saw the team maintaining their four points lead at the top of the league table with fourty nine points from twenty five matches.
