By Isma'eel Abba Tangalashi
*Match:* Novelty Match for the lunching of he 2018 Kano SWAN Calendar
*Venue:* Sani Abacha Stadium
*Date:* Tuesday, 10th April, 2018
*Result:* Kano SWAN 5-2 Club Owners
Kano SWAN continued their dominant display in the Nigerian Football Circle after yet again thumping of the Association of Kano State Football Club Owners as part of the activities to celebrate the lunching of the Association 2018 Calendar.
The match that was decided at the famous Sani Abacha Stadium, Tuesday evening saw the Malikawa led SWAN hammered the club owners Association by five goals to two, a win that ensures SWAN's longest unbeaten record intact.
The game light up to it's billing as early as the first minutes when Mukhtar find space to put Farouk through but the attacker's sexy and flashy way of playing prevented him from scoring as he fired his shot wide off target.
Kano SWAN continued to dominate the proceedings with series of attacks from all cylinders but the resilient club owners packed the Buss to ensure the game reached 10 minutes in a stalemate.
After a close reading of the game, Coach Salisu Musa Jegus and his assistant, Nura Garba had to device and switched their style of play from long balls to a tiki taka way of playing.
The switched in the formation paid off when lively Farouk raced down through the left flank and fired in a shot that beat the opposition goalie and went straight into the net. The buildup before the goal was a class and the players and coaches of Kano SWAN had to be commended for their effort.
The displayed of football artistry by members of the SWAN saw them increase the tally from the spot when another member of SWAN, Musbahu Bala Chediyar Yan Gurasa, who played for the club owners recklessly fouled Mukhtar inside the box when the tormenting became unbearable for him.
Farouk stepped in and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way for his second of the evening.
It was a complete dominance and a show of character by SWAN and they leave no stone unturned to make sure the first half of the game ended in a high number of goals.
Their efforts quickly paid off when Yahaya tap in a simple finish inside the sixteen yard box to make it three nil to the SWAN.
The first half ended three goals to nil in favour of SWAN.
After the restart, two goals in quick succession were added to make the scoreline a respectable five nil.
When they can no longer resist the pressure, players of the club owners decided to stayed back, soaked all the pressure and hits on the counter.
They were finally rewarded when their player was fouled on the edge of the eighteen yard box and the resulting free kick saw the club owners reduced the deficit with a powerful header that leaves SWAN goalie, Mansur Ibrahim wondering on the air.
After the introduction of Hassan Yarkaza by the technical Manager of club owners, they showed some real stuff going forward and the speedy Yarkaza caused a lot of trouble to the SWAN defence marshalled by Aminu Abba Kwaru.
It was a mixed reactions during the closing stages of the game when a player of Kano SWAN was adjourned to have handled the ball inside the box by the match officials.
Hassan Yarkaza stepped in and took his kick that was 'almost' saved by Mansur Abdullahi but instead of catching or parried the ball wide, he filled his gloves with the breeze of the Sani Abacha Stadium.
All efforts by the SWAN Kano to increase their tally proved abortive and the game happily ended in a 7 goal thriller.
After the game, Technical Manager of Kano SWAN, Salisu Musa Jegus praised his team's effort but urged his players to be more clinical in front of goal next time.
"As you can see, we dominated the game from start to finish but we only scored 30% of our chances.
"I expect us to score at worst, ten goals in this encounter but my players sexy football means the game ended this way.
"I will talk to the players tomorrow morning and see where we got it wrong." Jegus added.
On his part, Captain of the club owners, Alhaji Dauda Auwalu fault the officiating and wants improved performance from referees next time.
"We played much of the game trying to defend and that resulted in too much pressure we found ourselves today.
"We played our part as players but the penalty given to the SWAN was a questionable one though, we were rewarded with one too." Alhaji Dauda continued.
In recent months, Kano SWAN have played two novelty matches, the first match was played during the NPFL Super Six against visiting SWAN and the game ended one nil in favour of Kano SWAN and the second game was against Kano's Referees Council that ended in a too much controversy, even though, Kano SWAN won the tie.
*MISSING IN ACTION FOR KANO SWAN:* Kano SWAN missed whole lot of their star players for this game, notable among them are as follows;
Ayodeji Jayoeba, Uchenna Iyoke Fish, Abdulazeez Ibrahim, Aminu Halilu Tudun Wada, Abdulkareem Muhammad Abdulkareem and a host of others.
*STATISTICS*
*Goals:* 5-2
*Attempts:* 15-3
*Attempt On Targets:* 11-2
*Attempts Off Targets:* 4-1
*Saves:* 1-9
*Corners:* 7-0
*Fouls:* 5-12
*Yellow Card:* 0-0
*Red Card:* 0-0
*Possession:* 75%-25%
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