The Solid Miners kick-started their 2022 Aiteo Federation Cup journey on a fantastic fashion with a 4-0 thrashing of Eaglets FC of Zamfara at the rain-drenched Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, on Saturday evening.
Aliyu Abdullahi scored a brace in the 6th and 26th minutes, respectively, courtesy of an assist from King Osanga and a goalkeeping error by Hussaini Hassan in a half that also saw the duo of Ibrahim Umar and Sunday Joseph both threatening to reduce the deficit on two occasions, while Abubakar Abdullahi and Dauda Maigishiri missed golden chances for the Solid Miners.
The restart saw left full-back, Ini Edem, spinning his free-kick just an inch above the cross bar, but striker, Chinedu Ohanachom, made up for the near-miss as he headed home Dauda Maigishiri’s corner kick in the 61st minute for the third goal for the Lafia-based side.
United showed their dominance and professional superiority after two young substitutes, Sunday Okereke and Nentaka Bangs both combined brilliantly to put matters to rest with the latter scoring from the former’s deflected shot, three minutes into added time. It’s the prodigy’s first goal in United’s colours since joining the club at the beginning of the just ended 2021/22 NPFL campaign.
The round of 64 result guaranteed Nasarawa United’s advancement to the round of 32 stage of the longest inter-club football competition in Nigeria against a yet-to-be-announced opposition.
Recall that the Solid Miners finished as runners-up during the 2021 edition of the competition which was formerly known as the FA Cup.
