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| Baba Ganaru |
Relief came the way of Wikki Tourists coach, Mohammed Baba Ganaru after his side saw off visiting Katsina United 2-1 to end a five match winless spell.
Those five matches and some other poor results in the past had put Ganaru under pressure though he once dismissed such suggestion which essentially rose against the backdrop of Wikki’s two successive top four finishes under the former coach, Abdulahi Maikaba.
Ganaru welcomed the win on Sunday, describing it as a good result and for the first time lamented that his side has been plagued by indifferent results despite their quality. Now he seems to suggest that they have exorcised the ghost of those bad runs, declaring,”It’s a good match and a tough one at the same time. I knew we’ll get it right”.
For a coach who quit former champions, Kano Pillars on mutual understanding with the management, the expectations at Bauchi was high and he was also ushered to manage the team with all the perks of a top flight manager. This much he admitted when expressing bewilderment at the results that were coming match day after match day.
“I can’t just understand why we were getting bad results. We did everything right. Our pre-season was perfect only for league to start and we were getting poor result”,
Early last week, there was a veiled threat of sacking by the club chairman, Issa Matori who in acknowledging the financial support the state government has rendered to the club mandated the Coach to reciprocate the gesture with good results on the pitch. Ganaru however, made another appeal to the fans to show understanding as the club finds the wand to turn around their fortunes for good.
“That’s football for you, I just want our fans to be patient with us and as time passes by, we’ll get it right”, he pleaded.
The match itself on Sunday was full of actions, suspense, and brilliant play by both teams, producing three goals at the end of 90 minutes.
It was the home team that showed their readiness to claim all three points right from the commencement of proceedings with a sustained attacking foray in a spate of five minutes after kick-off.
Three minutes into the game, Katsina United paid dearly for what seemed to be a reckless tackle by their central defender Danladi Timothy on Chinedu Onyenolu inside the penalty box and the referee awarded a penalty which Victor Yakubu converted brilliantly by sending Danjuma Paul the wrong way.
There was an early substitute for Wikki Tourists on the 23 minute of play which saw Peter Ambrose coming on for Abdullahi Musa who sustained an undisclosed injury.
Yakubu would have scored his second goal towards the end of first half but intelligent goalkeeping from former youth international Dajuma Paul denied him as the first half ended one-nil in favour of the hosts.
On resumption of the second half Katsina United’s Ashadi Destiny got the equalising goal for the visitors from a solo effort, that rendered Wikki Tourists goalkeeper Emeka Nwabulu helpless on 47 minutes. The goal spurred Wikki Tourists to a response of sending more bodies to the front, resulting in countless shots on goal.The sustained pressure was too much for the visitors to contain and they were forced to conceding lots of fouls.
The pressure eventually paid off on the 80th minute when substitute, Ambrose scored what could be a contender for the goal of the week, executing a bicycle kick that caught Goal keeper Danjuma Paul off guard for the winning goal.
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