WATCH: The most muted hat-trick in Nigerian football history

When Ikorodu City beat Warri Wolves 4-3 at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Sunday, the story was the seven-goal thriller, Abayomi Ayodeji's stunning brace, and a first-time fan whose running commentary turned out to be the sharpest tactical analysis in the stadium.

Nobody talked about Igbunu Evwierhurhoma. They should have.

Pulse Sports Nigeria can confirm that the Warri Wolves forward scored a hat-trick in Sunday's defeat, making him, almost certainly, the author of the most overlooked treble in recent Nigerian football history. 

The NPFL's own social media handle noted a brace for him after the game. That was wrong. He scored three.

Wolves pulled their first goal back in the 26th minute from a Kayode-esque long throw, the kind of set-piece routine that Brentford have made famous in the Premier League and that Wolves had already attempted earlier in the game without success. 

The throw found its way to Evwierhurhoma, who produced a flick-on header that reduced the deficit from 2-0 to 2-1. It was an unusual goal, more instinctive than clinical and in the chaos of a game that had already produced two goals in three minutes, it barely registered as a moment.

His second came from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute after an unnecessary foul by the hosts. 4-2 had become 4-3, except at that point it was 4-3, because Oyedokun had already restored the cushion just a minute later. Wolves were still two behind. The goal felt like a consolation rather than a threat.

His third was the late goal that made the final scoreline 4-3 and gave Wolves a more respectable result than their performance warranted. By that point, most neutral observers were focused on whether Ikorodu would hold on, not on who was finishing off the moves for the visitors.

Three goals. No fanfare. No match ball presentation. Not even an accurate tally from the league's own communications team. 

Here is the uncomfortable truth that Sunday's result obscures. Igbunu Evwierhurhoma scored a hat-trick in a professional football match and left Lagos with nothing to show for it except a defeat.

In any other context, a Premier League game, a Champions League night, even a well-documented lower league fixture, a hat-trick is the story. The forward keeps the match ball. His name trends. The opposition result becomes a footnote beneath his achievement.

At the Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Sunday, it happened the other way around. The result buried the performance. The chaos of a seven-goal game swallowed the individual story whole. 

And the NPFL's social media account, which credited him with two goals rather than three, ensured that even the small acknowledgement he received was inaccurate.

Our earlier match report described his opening contribution accurately, the Kayode-esque throw-in routine that Ikorodu had survived earlier before finally succumbing. What we did not know at the time was that the player on the end of it would go on to complete one of the quietest hat-tricks this country has seen.

Warri Wolves lost. That is the result. Evwierhurhoma's hat-trick did not change it and, given the two-goal lead Ikorodu held for much of the second half, probably never could have.

But football has always made space for individual brilliance inside collective failure. Players score hat-tricks in losing sides. They deserve to be recognised for it.

Igbunu Evwierhurhoma scored three goals at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Sunday evening. The match ball belongs to him. Someone in Lagos should find a way to get it to Warri.