By Femi Atolagbe

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Moyinoluwa Owolabi scored twice at the ongoing Nigeria Women Football League Championship to restore Sunshine Queens hope of returning to the female Elite League.

The match day four encounter between Sunshine Queens and Imo Striker Queens played at Remo Stars Stadium, Ikenne saw the midfield prodigy, Moyinoluwa Owolabi converting a penalty in the 15th minute after the East based side player touched the ball inside the box .

Sunshine Queens pressed home for more goals as Shola Oduwale, Suliat Ajibade and Precious Edewor efforts were thwarted severally by their opponent’s goalkeeper.

Moment later, Imo Strikers Queens came out with a renewed energy and took control of the game, it took the experience of both the coaching crew and the players to contain the East based side onslaught.

Despite the pressure from Imo Striker Queens, Sunshine Queens maintained the lone goal in the first half .

Ololade Akintunde replaced injured Miracle Ohaeri at the restart of the encounter, while the duo of Suliat Ajibade, Shola Oduwale were substituted for Taiwo Aganmuyi and Ayomide Olatunji in the 54th minute.

Oscar Precious gave Imo striker Queens a leveller in the 61th minute from a goal mouth scrabble off a corner kick, the Akure based ladies however reacted swiftly to restore their lead but the resilience Easterners back line resisted all Sunshine Queens antics .

Five minutes to end the match, Moyinoluwa Owolabi pooled the straw that broke the Carmel’s back after she dribbled the oncoming Imo defender and placed the ball into top corner of the net to return Sunshine Queens back to the contest for the available group B ticket .

Meanwhile, Kazeem Eletu FC who are on second on group B log played 1-1 draw with Delta Babes, while the table topper, Lakeside Queens lost 2-3 to Honey Badgers .

The match day four results placed both Sunshine Queens and the Lakeside Queens on nine points each, with the Remo based ladies topping the 2015 Women federal cup winners with a goal different, while Kazeem Eletu dropped to third on the log.

In a chat with Moyinoluwa Owolabi who scored a brace, she said she was impressed scoring two goals for her side, saying she prayed to God in the morning for two goals and the prayers were answered.

According to her, “my coach told me that whenever I’m inside the box, that I should be calm, I played according to my coach’s instructions and it worked for me from the first angle to the second angle and behold, the ball was inside the net”.

On his part, Sunshine Queens head coach, Abimbola Oladimeji thanked God for the victory against the resilience Imo striker Queens, describing the team as a hard nut to crack.

He added that his players played in a wider pitch, unlike the center we have been playing since the commencement of the game.

He said: “We are going to remain focus till the end of the championship, like I have been saying, we will approach our last match like every other games.”