NNL: How Sporting Lagos' promotion hangover gifted Heartland NPFL return ticket

The 2023/2024 NPFL season is set with the confirmation of the 20 teams following Heartland’s promotion to the football league. 

Heartland became the last club to seal a ticket after an entertaining but hard-fought encounter against already-promoted Sporting Lagos.

The Naze Millionaires are back amongst the bug boys after they defeated the Tech Boys 2-1 in Asaba on Wednesday.

The Naze Millianaires went into the decisive final game of the group stages needing to avoid defeat with Stomers breathing down their neck.

Heartland needed at least a draw against Sporting but found themselves 1-0 down as early as the 13th minute.

But the Imo State side kept fighting and were gifted an equaliser before the break thanks to an own goal by Sporting goalkeeper.

In the second half, Chiebere Ajoku, who lost his starting berth, came off the bench to steal the show as he netted the winner 15 minutes from time. 

With the result, Heartland’s return ticket to the NPFL was an automatic one while Stomers expectedly thrashed One Rocket 4-0, a result that proved to be insignificant at the end of the day.

In what was a keenly contested clash between the two, Sporting Lagos seemed to have suffered promotion hangover as they suffered their first defeat in Asaba.

Sporting went into the final day as the only team that had confirmed their NPFL status after incredible back-to-back wins. The Tech Boys have been celebrating since they sealed that ticket on Monday.

Established two years ago, Sporting Lagos' journey has been well-documented here on Pulse Sports Nigeria and two years ago, they can be forgiven for having a hangover after becoming the 70th team to play in the NPFL.

Moments after they defeated Stormers to pick the ticket on Monday evening, Sporting Lagos via their social media accounts took over the trends table with some hilarious posts.

However, with the NNL title still up for grabs, it does seem the Tech Boys celebrated just too much as they conceded their first goals and defeat. 

Despite a positive start to the encounter against Heartland, following a stunning opener from the mercurial Kalu Chukwuemeka, the Tech Boys ended on the losing side as they missed a place to play for the title.

Heartland join Sporting Lagos as the top two from Group B while Kano Pillars are back as well despite losing 1-0 to rivals, Katsina United, who join them from Group A.