Remo Stars were on Sunday crowned as champions of the 2024/25 Nigeria Premier Football League after a 4-1 defeat of Ikorodu City in a South Western Derby in Ikenne.
The Sky Blue Stars came from a goal behind to thrash their Lagos based rivals and also dent their hopes of picking a continental ticket in their debut NPFL campaign.
Already crowned as champions a couple of weeks ago, Remo Stars received a guard of honour from the visitors, inside a full capacity stadium with thousands of supporters coming to witness their historic day.
Also among the spectators were the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, who joined the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Gusau, NPFL Chairman Gbenga Elegbeleye and other league officials at the stadium
The stadium was however given a shocker as early as the 15th minute when Ikorodu City captain, Tosin Oyedokun, let out a long range shot which was mishandled by Serge Obassa, to give the visitors an early lead.
Remo Stars finally got back into the game in the 37th minute courtesy of a simple finish from Sikiru Alimi for his fifth goal of the season.
Bello went from provider to scorer after the restart, netting the hosts’ third goal to get the fans into party mood.
Ikorodu City tried to reduce the deficit by playing attacking football, but things got better for Remo Stars as the hosts made it 4-1 in the 67th minute through Adedayo.
Ikorodu City didn’t relent but the hosts eased into their 22nd win of the season and take their tally to 71 points ahead of their final game of the season away at Bayelsa United next week.
For Ikorodu City, the defeat makes their hopes of picking a CAF Confederation Cup ticket difficult as they remained on 56 points, four behind third-placed Abia Warriors (60) with one game to the end of the season.