Bendel Insurance ended Rivers United’s unbeaten start with a 2–1 win in Benin on Sunday, leaving three clubs level on 17 points at the top of the NPFL. Rivers remain first on goal difference, ahead of Rangers International and Nasarawa United in the league’s updated official table.
Bendel’s club statement, reproduced by Complete Sports, read: ‘Full Time: Bendel Insurance 2 -1 Rivers United.’ The result gives Insurance five wins from nine league appearances and 15 points. Rivers have played ten games, winning four, drawing five and losing once.
The games-played column is particularly important for supporters weighing the title race. Rangers have eight matches recorded, two fewer than Rivers and Nasarawa. Equal points therefore do not mean identical positions in the campaign: the outstanding fixtures still have to be played, and their points cannot be awarded in advance.
Nasarawa joined the leading pair on 17 by beating Enyimba 1–0. Enyimba remain nineteenth with eight points, while Abia Warriors are seventeenth on ten after losing 1–0 to Niger Tornadoes. Those positions put the consequences of Sunday’s results at both ends of the table in focus.
In Lagos, Ikorodu City recovered from two goals down to draw 2–2 with Shooting Stars. The shared point leaves Ikorodu eleventh on 13 and Shooting Stars fifteenth on 12. For fans following the south-west rivalry, the comeback matters, but neither club collected the full reward of a derby victory.
The next useful comparison is not simply who won the weekend. It is which teams can turn their present position into a sustained run, while dealing with the different number of fixtures already completed. One result can change the conversation without settling either the championship or the survival battle.
Which side has the strongest platform now: Rivers, Rangers or Nasarawa?
