The 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) recorded its fastest goal on Sunday as Nasarawa United’s Abdulrahman Bashir scored in the 15th second of the fixture against Abia Warriors FC.
The NPFL Match Day 8 encounter was played at the Lafia Township Stadium, and it saw the hosts winning 3-1 against the visiting Umuahia-based Warriors.
Bashir received a pass from Zenke Thomas at the edge of their opponents’ penalty area to score from close range.
The home fans were still celebrating when Abia Warriors responded in the same fashion to equalise in the 3rd minute through Sunday Adetunji.
He had a one-two interplay with Kalu Nweke in the middle of three Nasarawa United players before shooting to score.
In the 16th minute, an attempt by Nasarawa United’s Douglas Achiev to dribble into the visitors’ penalty area saw him being upended by Abiodun Adebayo.
This led to a free kick by team captain Emmanuel Makama, which eventually led to another free kick, from which Douglas Archiev curled a shot into the right hand corner.
Nasarawa United extended their lead in the 51st minute, through defender Jide Williams who rose higher than Abia Warriors goalkeeper Moses Ochege to head home a Thomas corner kick.
Centre referee Ferdinand Udoh sent off one member of the Abia Warriors’ technical crew for unsporting behaviour in the 72nd minute, as the match wore to an end.
Speaking after the match, Isaac Danladi, Chairman of Nasarawa United, described the victory as a relief and a much-needed win after his team started the season with a string of poor results.
“Before now, we were under serious pressure. But the players responded with a good style of football. You should know that there are teams that start poorly and end well and some that start well and end up poorly.
“Nasarawa United always start poorly, but the moment we start picking points, we make good progress.
“I am so happy and I want to assure our fans that the team will do well this season,” he said.