The League Bloggers Awards (LBA), on Monday, announced an eight-man shortlist to vie for the Manager and Player’s awards respectively for the month of February in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
The list include four managers and four players from the top division in the country.
Abubakar Bala of Tornadoes, Ladan Bosso of El-Kanemi Warriors, Abdul Maikaba of Akwa United and MFM FC’s Fidelis Ilechukwu are the four men in the race for February’s manager award while Moses Ebiye, Sunday Adetunji, Samuel Mathias and Ernest Governor are listed for the player’s prize.
Tornadoes head coach Bala helped his club to three wins, including a 1-0 win at struggling Remo Stars.
Bala also led his team to a 1-1 draw against Katsina United in one of their three home games in February.
The performance earned Bala and Tornadoes 10 points despite a two-nil loss at Plateau United.
Bosso’s El-Kanemi Warriors were in fine fettle in the month under review. Out of five matches played, they won four including a 1-0 success at Abia Warriors. Their other wins were at home against former Nigerian champions Enyimba, Gombe United, Abia Warriors and Nasarawa United.
It was a period of resurgence for Akwa United under Maikaba as he guided the Promise Keepers to three wins and a draw at Gombe United in five matches in February. Their only defeat was a 0-1 loss at Enyimba.
Ilechukwu had just three games to oversee for MFM FC and had a decent return considering that two of the games were played on the road. MFM won 1-0 at Sunshine Stars and then stunned champions Enugu Rangers 2-1
at their Agege Stadium ground with their only loss (at ABS FC sandwiched by the wins).
ABS defender Governor was very influential in his team’s outing in February. He put in a massive shift in defence at Kano Pillars despite their 0-1 loss and replicated same performance when his club edged MFM FC 1-0 in a home game. Governor then showed he has a scoring dimension to his game when he netted twice at a difficult Akure Stadium venue where he earned a point for his team in a 2-2 draw with Sunshine Stars.
With three goals and an assist, El-Kanemi’s Mathias was one of the top picks in February. All three of his goals were at home against Gombe United and Nasarawa United while he provided the assist for their famous 1-0 win at Abia Warriors in mid-February.
Adetunji got among the shortlists for February’s prize on the back of scoring all of Abia Warriors’ four goals in February in five matches.
The former 3SC man scored two times at home against Gombe United and Sunshine Stars while the other two were at Nasarawa United and Akwa United.
Akwa United’s Ebiye completes the list as the top assist provider in February. He provided three assists in wins against Remo Stars, Plateau United and Abia Warriors and capped his outing in the month under review with a well-taken goal against Abia Warriors.
The LBA will announce the player and manager for February this week.
FEBRUARY NOMINEES
MANAGERS
Ladan Bosso (El-Kanemi Warriors)
Abdu Maikaba (Akwa United)
Abubakar Bala (Niger Tornadoes)
Fidelis Ilechukwu (MFM FC)
PLAYERS
Sunday Adetunji (Abia Warriors)
Samuel Mathias (El-Kanemi Warriors)
Ernest Governor (ABS FC)
Moses Ebiye (Akwa United)
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