By Femi Atolagbe
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Goals from David Onovo and Ibrahim Yusuf were all Sunshine Stars needed to defeat Niger Tornadoes and renew the hope of playing in Super six.
David Onovo gave the Akure Landlords the lead in the 42nd minute of the week 17 of the Nigeria Premier League Football (NPFL) decided at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.
Vincent Temitope had initiated an attack in combination with Yusuf Ibrahim who returned a pass to the initiator who later found a well positioned David Onovo who wasted no time in placing the ball at the top corner of the net to give the visitors the half time lead.
Sunshine Stars continued their sterling performance in search for the second goal as their efforts paid off in the 49th minute as Yusuf Ibrahim was brought down inside the box , but the center referee was not convinced enough to award a penalty for the visitors.
Moment later, the hosts, were reduced to ten men as their captain received a red from the center referee following a hard tackle on Yusuf Ibrahim.
Vincent Temitope made it a second assists after setting up Yusuf Ibrahim for the second goal in the 65th minute .
Sunshine Stars were not relenting in extending their lead but they were being blunt in the face of goal in the remainder of the encounter.
Meanwhile,Kwara United also defeated Nasarawa United 1-0 in a battle of Elite league survival at the Ondo sports complex,Akure.
While El-kanemi Warriors FC have been relegated from the Nigeria Premier Football League.
They returned to the Nigeria National League (NNL) after a very poor run in 2022/23 season.