Adeleye shines as Enosis battles for survival

Makeshift Super Eagles goalkeeper, Adeleye Adebayo was again the centre of attraction in Enosis Neon Paralimni’s 3-1 loss to Apollon in the Cypriot Division 1 League clash on Sunday,

The former Hapoel Jerusalem goal tender kept the scoreline low with his point-blank saves as Apollon strikers surged forward in search of more goals.

Enosis’ rearguards eventually fell like a pack of cards in the second after Adeleye dug deep into his technical books of tricks to keep them at bay in the first half as the encounter ended goalless. An own goal from Andreas Christofi however broke the deadlock in the 58th minute, but Niv Gotlieb rallied back for Enosis in the 76th minute.

Adeleye made several daring saves to keep the host at bay before Apollon found the killer punch in the 97th minute through Diego Fernando Dorregaray. Gaetan Weissbeck put the icing on the cake three minutes later to secure three valuable points for Apollon to move to fourth on the log while Enosis dropped to 13th.

It would be recalled that the former Golden Eaglets goalkeeper won MVP twice this season thereby raising speculation that he could be priced away from Enosis by Cypriots league moneybags next summer.

Adeleye joined Enosis Neon Paralimni on a free transfer after severing ties with Israeli club, Hapoel Jerusalem following six years’ spell between the sticks. The 24-year-old made 139 appearances for Hapoel with 54 clean sheets.

He made his competitive debut for Nigeria on a winning note after their hard-fought 3-2 win over Sierra Leone in the penultimate game of the 2023 AFCON qualifier.

Adeleye first got a Super Eagles call-up for a friendly game against Ecuador, and after coming on as a substitute against Algeria’s second side during a friendly game.