It was a case of different fortunes for two maiden Super Eagles invitees, as Crotone of Italy striker, Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo (Simy) was in top form during training, but Kano Pillars star, Junior Lokosa flopped.
While Lokosa, who was recently in Bulgaria for a botched deal, struggled to find his rhythm, ‘Simy’ struck one of the goals that got fans cheering in Uyo.
Both strikers were under the spotlight, as the Eagles had a training match among themselves, as part of their build up to Monday’s friendly against DR Congo.
The training match saw all players in camp taking part, except Wilfred Ndidi who is still nursing an injury which brought his season to a premature end at English Premier League side Leicester City.
Freshly invited Simy Nwankwo drew first blood with a spectacular lob which left goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa stranded to put his team ahead few minutes into the session.
Playing alongside Alex Iwobi and Junior Lokosa in attack, Simy who impressed with his shooting abilities during the shooting drills showed his eyes for goals with that cracking effort.
His team were coasting to a 1-0 win but Kelechi Iheanacho who displayed a high level of accuracy during the shooting drills before the training game proved his sharpness with a leveler which was the last kick of the game.
On the other hand, Lokosa, who is current top scorer in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), struggled in his second training session of the senior national team.
He had his first training session with the team on Wednesday, and impressed during a mini game the players had among themselves with one of his goals leaving about three defenders sprawling on the turf.
In Thursday’s session after the traditional shooting drills, Lokosa was named in one of the teams during a mini training match alongside Iwobi and another freshly invited forward, Simy.
Lokosa was played from the left side of the three man attack and he struggled to have any impact in the game, failing to beat his man in numerous dwell.
He found it hard to cope playing out wide on the flank during the session which lasted for a little over an hour and ended 1-1 with Simy and Iheanacho scoring the goals for their respective teams.
