NPFL: Enugu Rangers rule Nigerian Clasico against Enyimba to go top

In a pulsating Southeast derby at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, the Flying Antelopes produced a dramatic second-half comeback to defeat Enyimba 2-1 and climb to the summit of the Nigeria Premier Football League table.

With just three matches remaining in the 2025-26 season, Rangers have put themselves firmly in the driving seat of one of the most compelling title races Nigerian football has seen in years.

Enyimba arrived in Enugu with a point to prove and something to play for too, the People's Elephant are still uncomfortably close to the relegation zone and desperately needed the points. For a moment, it looked like they might just get them.

Just four minutes after the restart, Wonah Williams broke the deadlock, stunning what would have been a roaring home crowd into silence, had there been one.

The game was played behind closed doors following sanctions imposed on Rangers by NPFL authorities for previous disciplinary breaches, meaning Williams' opener echoed through empty stands. It was a surreal setting for a derby of this magnitude.

But Rangers, to their enormous credit, did not crumble. They regrouped, reasserted themselves, and hit back with the kind of conviction that separates title challengers from the rest.

Iwundu, one of the players Eric Chelle could take to London, drew the Flying Antelopes level, with his ninth goal of the season, and then Ideanyi Onyebuchi delivered the decisive blow, a winner that sent the players into wild celebration in a stadium their own fans could not enter.

There is a certain poetry in the way this match unfolded. Rangers climbed to the top of the table in the most stoic of circumstances, playing one of the season's biggest games without the fuel of a full home crowd behind them. No noise, no colour, no atmosphere, just football. And they delivered anyway.

It was also a measure of revenge for an earlier chapter in this rivalry. Back in November 2025, Enyimba had handed Rangers a 2-1 defeat in Aba. Today, in the same scoreline but with the roles reversed, the Flying Antelopes settled that account and did so when it mattered most.

This fixture carries decades of history. Heading into today, Enyimba held a commanding psychological edge in the head-to-head record, 14 wins to Rangers' 9 in their last 29 meetings.

The People's Elephant have long lorded it over their Enugu rivals in this particular contest. But history, as Rangers demonstrated so emphatically on Sunday, is only useful until it isn't.

For Enyimba, the loss is a damaging blow on two fronts. Not only do they remain 13th in the table, still nervously peering over their shoulders at the relegation zone, but they now face the prospect of watching their bitter rivals potentially lift the NPFL title in the coming weeks.

It is the kind of scenario that haunts supporters of any club, let alone one with Enyimba's proud and decorated history.

Rangers now sit at the top of the NPFL table with three games to play. The title is in their hands and after a performance like this, in conditions like these, there is every reason to believe they will see it through.

The Flying Antelopes came from behind, silenced an old rivalry, and did it all in front of empty stands. Imagine what they might do when the fans are finally back.