Imade Osarenkhoe netted his fourth consecutive goal of the season as Bendel Insurance ran home riot to thrash Remo Stars 3-0 in the Matchday 4 of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) on Saturday.

Prior to the game, the two sides had never beaten each other in the NPFL.

The last time the two clubs met in the topflight league was in the 2019 abridged season, with both legs ending in stalemate and both got relegated at the end of the campaign.

But at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, it only took Bendel Insurance barely six minutes to find the net against Remo Stars, who were on a three-game cleansheet streak, through Imade to put the host upfront. He tapped home a drop ball from Osas Okoro’s corner kick.

The Highest Institution Football (HiFL) product took his season’s goal tally to four in four matches as he leads the NPFL highest scorer’s chart.

In the 25th minute, Remo Stars were close to an equaliser through Okon Anekeme but his effort narrowly missed its target before Ismael Sarki grabbed his third goal of the campaign to double the lead for Benin Arsenal barely a minute later. 

Sarki capitalised on a big howler by Goalkeeper Bankole Kayode to end the Insurance’s advantage.

In the opening ten minutes of the second half, Imade almost hit his brace of the evening, but the UNIBEN graduate’s effort was comfortably handled by Bankole Kayode while Seth Mayi came in for Okon Anekeme to deny the visitors an equaliser.

The composed Insurance defenders were able to keep the game at bay as the momentum of the encounter continued to intensify.

In the closing minutes of the game, Divine Nwachukwu laid a backheel pass through to Austin Ogunye, who immediately latched the ball into the top corner of the net to seal the victory for Insurance.

The victory sent Bendel Insurance to top of Group A with 12 points as they continued their perfect start in the campaign, while defeat was the Sky Blue Stars’ first loss of the season; they are now second in the group.

Elsewhere in Akwa Ibom, Champions Rivers United pulled off an impressive comeback to grab a 2-1 away victory over Dakkada FC at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium.

Isaac George gave the host the lead inside the first 20 minutes of the match before Nwangwa Nyima equalised for Rivers in the 35th minute.

Naibe Akpesiri scored the winning goal just before the break to secure the win for Rivers United.

The result extended Rivers United Group B table lead to four points.