After beating Kano Pillars, Rangers Int’l eyes league title

Rangers stormed back from a goal down in the first half to humiliate former champions, Kano Pillars 4-1 in a Matchday 5 fixture of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) on Saturday in Awka.

Goals from Godwin Obaje, Isaac Saviour and skipper Chukwudi Nwaodu meant that the Flying Antelopes turned back their immediate past head coach, Abdu Maikaba who now calls the shots at Pillars.

Following the win which saw Rangers go top of the log pending Sunday fixtures involving other top runners, two-goal hero, Nwaodu and assistant coach Suleiman Alli are already fancying their chances of another title.

While describing the win as a huge morale booster for their title aspiration, Suleiman said: “This win means a lot towards achieving our set targets for the season.”

He added: “This is a very big win for us and we give God all the glory. It was a difficult match against a team with the immediate past coach of Rangers. We had to shrug off the early deficit and had a better second half where we killed off the game. We thank our supporters for being there for us even when we were behind.”

Nwaodu, whose two goals killed off whatever ideas Pillars had of coming back into the game described their performance as a big win.

“It was a great win for us and we played against a big side in Kano Pillars. I am very happy for the goals I scored today and even much happier for the victory for our club, Rangers especially coming from a goal down to equalize and having the goals rush in the second half.

“At 0-1, I was positive that we would emerge victorious due largely to the fact that we have a team with young players filled with running energy. We will continue to push on for better results.”

In the fixture, Muhammad Yakubu stabbed home from close range for Kano Pillars just after 11 minutes but Obaje equalized from the penalty on 23 minutes. The other three goals came in the second half.