Destiny Ashadi scored a penalty in injury time as Kastina United forced Kano Pillars to a 2-2 draw in the first game of the new Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season.
The explosive encounter, which saw Pillars’ defender Victor Dennis sent off for a reckless tackle, played out on Saturday at the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium, Katsina.
Junior Lokosa scored the first goal of the season three minutes after the half-hour to give Pillars the lead.
With two minutes left in the first half, Pillars were down to 10 men, courtesy of Dennis’ two-footed tackle on Eric Gwammy.
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Capitalising on the advantage, Katsina levelled matters through Ajana Chinedu’s header in the 45th minute. The first half ended 1-1.
Pillars went ahead after the hour mark through Alassan Ibrahim, who smashed home a screamer to beat Dami Paul in Katsina’s goal.
The home team responded by taking the game to the visitors.
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They had the chance to equalise from a spot-kick when Emmanuel Anyanwu brought down Ajana but goalkeeper David Obiazo guessed right to save Muhammed Hussaini’s spot kick.
The penalty loss didn’t deter Abdullahi Biffo’s team from launching a fightback.
After Usman Fahad had handled the ball in Pillars’ box, Ashadi scored the resultant penalty to earn Katsina a point.
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