John Okoli: Nigeria striker ends goal drought in Arab Contractors’ comeback win

By Wale Mustapha

Nigeria and Arab Contractors striker John Okoli ended his eight weeks of goal drought in the Egyptian Premier League as he scored in his side’s 3-2 come back win over Haras El Hodood on Tuesday.

Okoli who last scored for the Contractors in the Cup defeat to Al Ahly in November, 2022 gave the home side the lead inside fourth minutes of the game.

The goal is his second of the campaign and third in all competition for the Contractors and Hodood responded soon after and scored two quick goals in 16 minutes through Omar Bassam and Mustapha Zico.

Arab Contractors thought they will be heading to half time with second goal scored by Mohammed Salim but was chalked off by the VAR.

The hosts started the second half with same tempo and would soon back on level terms in 55th minutes as Joseph Ochanya scored from the spot following a foul in the box by Mohammed Fawzi.

They regained the lead in the 68th minute when Egyptian forward Omar Fathi headed home from a corner kick.

The Contractors ended the game with 10 men when the winning goal scorer, Fathi turned from hero to villain as he was sent off for unsportsmanlike act with five minutes to end the game.

El Hodood forced a late equalizer despite having numerical advantage but found a resolute Contractors who had built a solid wall around their defense to salvage the victory.

The win, however pushed Arab Contractors to ninth on the Egyptian Premier League log after amassing 15 points from 11 games while Haras El Hodood remained in the red zone (17) with just nine points from same matches.