Portsmouth & Ian Wright Run The Rule Over Arsenal's Nigerian Youngsters Vs Derby County

Published: January 04, 2020

Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw by Derby County in a Premier League 2 fixture staged at Meadow Park on Friday night.

Gunners U23 head coach Steve Bould handed starts to four players of Nigerian descent namely Tolaji Bola who captained the side, Folarin Balogun, James Olayinka and Joseph Olowu, while Republic of Ireland youth-teamer of Nigerian parentage Festy Ebosele logged ninety minutes for the visitors.

Allnigeriasoccer.com understands that League One club Portsmouth sent one of their scouts to monitor proceedings in Hertfordshire and Arsenal legend Ian Wright was also spotted in the stands watching the game with keen interest.

It is unclear the identities of the players Portsmouth and Wright came to observe but the four Nigerian players in the ranks of Arsenal gave a good account of themselves, helping their team come from two goals down to salvage a point.

The Rams established a two-goal lead eleven minutes into the second half courtesy of Jahmal Hector-Ingram's brace before Sam Greenwood halved the deficit at minute 80, then an own goal from Jordan Brown leveled matters in the 89th minute.

The four Nigerian youngsters that started for Arsenal have trained with the first team in the past and only Olowu has yet to be included in a match day squad for a competitive game.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com