Ighalo on a roll, hits double

In from Nifemi Daniel . . .
Super Eagles and Watford striker Odion Ighalo continued his goalscoring form on Saturday as he hit a brace and inspired his English club to a 2-0 victory against West Ham at Vicarage Road.
Ighalo who is expected to lead Nigeria’s attack when they battle Swaziland next week, opened scoring in the 39 minutes when he converted Nathan Ake’s cross and tackled Andy Carroll, who was trying to play the ball out of defence for West Ham.
Ighalo’s second came from the edge of the penalty area in the second half, slotting in after a neat exchange between Ikechi Anya and Troy Deeney.
West Ham defender James Collins was shown a straight red card six minutes from full time for a foul on Ighalo.
Meanwhile, Ighalo has praised his teammates for enhancing the victory on Saturday while praising the team’s coach for the tactical game plan.
“We know they are a very good team but we stuck to our game-plan and what the gaffer told us to do, and it really worked,” he told the Watford Weekend Post-Match Review on Hornets PlayerHD.
“He told us to try and keep [Dimitri] Payet as much away from the goal as possible, because if he’s very close he’s very dangerous, so we were always pushing and letting him come back to get the ball.
“I think that really worked, we really pushed ourselves and we took the chances that came, so we are very happy about the game.
“I’m happy about my goals, but I’m most pleased about the team performance. We played very well today and we deserved the win and the three points.”

Read also: Watford coach: Ighalo not for sale

With the victory, Watford are ninth in the Premier League table after 11 games, and Ighalo believes the team spirit that exists within the first-team squad has been crucial to their success so far.
“We’ve been performing great this season, not just today, and we’ve been working hard together,” he said.
“The team has been pushing, we run for each other, we fight for each other, and it’s been great.
“I’m happy for the spirit today, we won last week and that gave us a boost to push on.
“We were playing at home and I think our game-plan really worked today, so we are very happy.”

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