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It was sadness and joy as Enugu Rangers beat El Kanemi 4-0 in the final game of the Nigeria football season to end their 32-year wait for the title, with striker Chisom Egbuchulam plundering a hat trick as teammate Ifeanyi Egwim suffered a horrific leg break in the closing seconds. The Enugu side, who last won the Nigeria championship in 1984, ruthlessly made short work of visiting El Kanemi Warriors to seal the title. Rangers, formed after the Nigerian Civil War in 1970, represented the determined spirit of the Igbo people of the then south eastern Nigeria, and they showed that spirit when they won titles in 1974, 1975 and 1977 becoming the first club to represent Nigeria on the continent. They claimed another three titles in 1981, 1982 and the last in 1984. During that time, they also won five FA Cup titles between 1974 and 1984, the African Cup Winners Cup and were losing finalists in the CAF African Cup of Champions (now CAF Champions League) producing some of the greatest international players to represent Nigeria before sliding into a three-decade oblivion. And so the match against El Kanemi represented one final hurdle before the club returned to the top. The Flying Antelopes had already done the hard work with a 2-1 win away to Ikorodu United last week, but they still needed to complete the job at home, and they did so in some style, in front of a stadium packed to its 25000-capacity rafters. Rangers forced a penalty within the opening minute. Egbuchulam dispatched it with ease to open the scoring. The goal took whatever pressure the home side would have felt off their shoulders as they proceeded to enjoy themselves and went 2-0 up just before half-time. Osas Okoro turned inside the box to fire past Yekini Kazim, although there were suspicions of offside about the goal. There was no doubt about the third, and Egbuchulam's second, the striker arriving in the nick of time to sweep home from a delicious Rangers' passing sequence. And with seconds lefts to play, Yekini crashed into Egwim as the forward bore down on goal. Rangers players close to the action put their hands on their heads on seeing the injury, a sign of how serious it was. Medics confirmed it was a broken leg and the player was instantly taken to hospital in an ambulance. Egbuchulam converted the penalty for his hat trick, but he was in tears as he did so. For Rangers, it was a warm welcome, and long-awaited return to the summit of Nigerian football.
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