Bottom-placed Remo Stars put life back into their bid to beat the drop in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) with a 0-0 draw at Abia Warriors on Thursday.
The Sky Blue Stars were not favourites ahead of the contest against Abia Warriors but they did just enough to leave the Umuahia Township Stadium with a priceless point that now cuts the gap between them and safety to four.
Remo Stars head coach Fatai Osho gave Boubacar Talatou his first start of the season as he made four changes to the team that defeated Gombe United last Sunday. Samuel Ganda, Onuoha Chukwujekwu and Victor Chidume also started.
Kalu Nweke, out for two weeks due to an ankle injury, was replaced in the startlist by Abia Warriors head coach Abdullahi Biffo with Uche Ihuarulam as Sherif Bashir returned from injury to get a place on the bench.
Osho's men were determined and showed a lot of guts going forward with Salefu Ochowechi, Ekene Awazie and Eric Dufegha often anchoring their attacking play.
However, it was the host team Abia Warriors who nearly had their noses in front when Yakub Hammed's 25-yard free kick struck the cross bar on 24 minutes and Anthony Okemmiri turned the rebound wide.
On 56 minutes, Sunday Adetunji turned in the ball from close range but the referee Joseph Ogabor ruled it out for offside.
The game then took a back-and-forth pattern as both teams looked to break the deadlock. But it was Abia Warriors who created clear-cut chances at the later stages of the game.
Adetunji came close 12 minutes to time but was denied by Remo Stars goalkeeper Chizoba Ndukwe. Then Shedrack Asiegbu's attempt came off the post on 81 minutes.
The match petered out to a 0-0 draw for the Sky Blue Stars to earn a point that takes their tally to 23 from 23 matches though they still remain bottom of the NPFL table.
A day earlier, league leaders Plateau United won 2-1 at Sunshine Stars to open a five-point gap on the chasing pack. Emmanuel Odafe and Emeka Umeh scored for Plateau United, and Ezekiel Thompson got Sunshine Stars' goal.
Anthony Okpotu was the star performer of the matchweek as he netted a 12-minute hat-trick to propel Lobi Stars to a 3-1 win over MFM FC. Austine Ogunye's goal for MFM proved insufficient on a day the head coach of the Church Boys, Fidelis Ilechukwu, left out the league's top scorer Stephen Odey.
Ivorians Yaya Kone and Seka Pascal scored as FC Ifeanyiubah ran out 2-0 winners over ABS FC. The Anambra Warriors have now shaken off a poor start to the campaign and are now second behind Plateau United.
Rivers United continued their poor run on the road in all competitions. They lost 0-1 to Niger Tornadoes after Musa Abdullahi Wakili scored from the spot on 11 minutes.
Rangers ended El-Kanemi's 100 percent home streak of 424 calendar days. Daniel Etor scored for the champions on 70 minutes and were four minutes away from claiming the full points before Aghahowa Otakho popped up with the equaliser for El-Kanemi.
Adamu Hassan was close to getting a hat-trick but ended up scoring twice for Nasarawa United as they won 2-0 against Katsina United. Hassan earlier missed a spot kick.
Enyimba were 10 minutes from getting their second away win before Suleman Usman's goal for Gombe United cancelled Ikechukwu Ibenegbu's strike for the Peoples Elephant.
In Ibadan, 3SC and Kano Pillars settled for a point each after a 0-0 draw.