JONATHAN Alukwu’s late goal on Sunday stalled the hopes of Heartland FC ending their winless streak against Sporting Lagos at the Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL matchday 9 at the Mobolaji Johnson stadium in Lagos.

The ICIR had reported that Heartland FC, prior to their match against Sporting Lagos had not won any NPFL matches, igniting  storms of criticisms.

But the Owerri boys who were close to breaking the jinx in Lagos to claim their first win were leading 1-0 after Sporting Lagos player Akpesiri Ike had an own goal.

A win could have boosted Heartland FC points on the league table , but were denied in the keenly contested encounter in Lagos.

The match aroused emotions of fans as some irate fans were seen throwing plastic bottles into the pitch in dissatisfaction of the turn out of the match when the hosts were trailing 1-0 behind the opponent.

The host who deployed all their arsenals to redeem themselves after losing their previous match against Lobi Stars, 1-0, dominated possessions during the first half.

Twenty minutes into the first half, Rivio Ayemwenre raced pass into Chisom Orji whose attempt was parried by Heartland goalkeeper Chisom Chiaha.

The host had a couple of chances bl but lacked the requisite strength to convert their chances.

Until their visitors broke the deadlock in the 76 minutes via an own goal which sparked a flurry of attacks from the host but met the resistance of their opponent’s defense led by the captain Nnemeka Anyanwu.

The visitors then opted the mechanism of time- delay tactics as few of their players at every three minutes of play lied on the pitch in an attempt to stop the flow of play.

Despite their tactics and defense style of play, they could not assuage the tempo of the host team in search of a goal, leaving them still at the bottom on the log with 6 points from nine. matches.