An Ajibola Otegbeye brace and Ibrahim Abdullahi solo effort plus individual brilliance by Muhammed Muhammed secured Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC a Premier League slot on Wednesday in Ilorin.
ABS defeated Gateway United FC 4-1, after the week 14 Nigeria National League (NNL) match was abandoned on October 30 when the Abeokuta-based side cited security concerns for not playing.
The match started on the front foot as both sides were playing carefully not to concede first.
Otegbeye fired the Saraki Boys into the lead just on the stroke of half time to end the first stanza 1-0.
He nodded home a goal mouth scrambling ball after Gateway goalkeeper failed to punch the ball over his defence.
The initially timid ABS players came into the second half with more confidence as they dictated most of the proceedings in the half.
Otegbeye followed up on another Gateway defensive error to make it 2-0 for ABS in the 70th minute after he had failed to score a one on one effort which was well defended by the Gateway goalkeeper.
Muhammed Muhammed dribbled through the defence of Gateway United FC to find Ibrahim Abdullahi who stretched the Gateway goalkeeper to his far right to score the third of the day for ABS.
Centre Referee, Nura Abdullahi from Zamfara State, pointed to the spot kick after Ibrahim Ahmed’s effort to clear the ball resulted in a penalty.
Bala Yahuza came forward and sent ABS goalkeeper Boje Abdullahi the wrong way to pull one back for Gateway from the spot in 88th minute.
There was only two minutes between Gateway goal and ABS fourth of the day as Muhammed again snatched the ball from the midfield, dribbled to the Gateway defence to fire home the winner for the Saraki Boys.
The victory means ABS Ilorin FC has now joined the likes of Remo Stars, Katsina United, Gombe United in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) next season.
ABS Ilorin FC was relegated in the 2012/2013 season.
