NNL: Vandrezzer and Ikorodu City played a barren draw in the derby

A stunning strike from midfield maestro Saviour Isaac earned us our second point of the season, in the Lagos Derby against Ikorodu City FC at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.

How It Happened

The much anticipated Lagos derby had a slow start, with both sides playing safe and looking to hit on the break. The Lions came through the first fifteen minutes unscathed and looked dangerous with the marauding Solomon Etiti on the left, who troubled the opposition’s defence time and again. Etiti nearly won us a spot-kick when he was seemingly brought down in the 18-yard box of Ikorodu City, but centre referee Nweke Patience did not consider the contact worthy of a penalty.

It was the visitors who went in front in the 28th minute through Salami Farouk. A breakdown in communication between goalkeeper Obinna Akutchie and our defence gifted Ikorodu City the opportunity to pounce from a corner kick and score the opener.

Minutes later, Etiti was played through on goal where he was tucked down by the defender in the box but the referee blew for a goal kick.

The Lions roared back in the first minute of added time to restore parity with Saviour scoring a cracker to open his account and also our first goal of the season. The goal came from a good interchange between captain Samuel Edoho and Etiti whose first-time pass released the full-back to put in a fine cross into the box. The cross was met by Kingsley Akpan who attempted a volley but his shot found Bassey, the defender controlling and playing it on the path of Saviour to send a stunning strike past the goalkeeper.

Obinna made three excellent saves to keep the scores level, two of them being brilliant stops in one-on-one situations deep into the second half.

With the game almost at full time, Saviour had another effort from a freekick go just wide off the target as the game ended with the points shared.

What They Said

“It was a tough game, which was expected from a derby. We had our chances though thought Etiti and Lekan but the goals didn’t come after that of Saviour. They also had their chances and kudos to Obinna for an excellent performance today. We would pick up the pieces from here and approach our next game with more determination.” – Henry Makinwa, VFC Head Coach.

“I wasn’t happy about conceding today, but I’m glad I was able to help keep us in the game. We played well but couldn’t bury our chances,  Ikorodu City were also very good. To me, it’s not a bad result” – *goalkeeper Obinna Akutchie*.

What Next

With two draws in the opening matches, Coach Henry Makinwa will hope for his first competitive victory this season, as we travel to Abeokuta on Saturday, February 26, 2022 to face Gateway United in Match Day 3.