City Football Club of Abuja on Saturday laboured to a 1-0 victory over Katsina United in their Nigeria National League (NNL) Northern Conference Group A2 Match Day 10 fixture.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that before kick-off, Katsina United had secured their position on top of group A2 table with 21 points after nine matches.
On the other hand, City FC were third with 13 points.
Both teams struggled to push for a goal but they were unable to convert their chances.
After a spirited first half performance by City FC, in the 44th minute Ekene Osigwe came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock.
This was just before the break but his shot went over the bar.
On resumption of the second half, both teams continued to struggle to scored but failed.
Five caution cards to Katsina United within a space of 10 minutes intervals, starting from Nasiru Sani, Tukur Adamu, Mohammed Aminu and Manyo Egbe who received twice.
Their agony was in the 40th minute, while 50th minute, 52nd minute, 53rd minute and 55th minute respectively.
Speaking after the match, Bishir Sadauki, the chief coach Katsina United said: ”We played our last league match and we lost, although most of our key players did not feature in the game because they were resting.
“Our focus was based on the Super 8 competition. We hope to achieve our target to be promoted to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL),” he said.
On his part, Ekene Osigwe, a defender of City FC, said they put in all their best to win the match.
”We just ended the unbeaten race of Katsina United today. They recorded their first loss and we ended the League with a win.
“We played to instructions and this yielded results. We should repeat that type of chances again,” he said.
He said their next focus is now the NNL Super 8 and they hope to achieve their target of promotion to the NPFL.
NAN reports that Katsina United and City FC have already qualified for the Super 8 playoff.
