By Korede James
Super Eagles stars Moses Simon and Kelechi Iheanacho starred on Friday night as their respective clubs, Nantes and Middlesbrough, secured important victories in France and England.
Simon made an assist as Nantes defeated OGC Nice 2-1 away in a French Ligue 1 clash, taking his tally for the season to nine assists and seven goals in 26 league appearances.
The winger set up teammate Douglas who put Nantes 1-0 ahead in the 11th minute.
Ali Abdi equalised for Nice in the 14th minute before Matthis Abline scored Nantes’ second goal in the 38th minute.
Also in action was Super Eagles striker Terem Moffi who was brought on in the 72nd minute by Nice, making his second appearance since his return from injury.
With the win, Nantes moved further away from the relegation zone to 13th place, while Nice are fourth.
In the English Championship, Iheanacho provided the assists for both of Middlesbrough’s goals in their 2-0 victory at Blackburn Rovers.
Iheanacho had opened his goals account for Middlesbrough when he netted one of the goals in the 2-1 win against Oxford United last week.
Boro took the lead just two minutes into the encounter as Iheanacho’s ball found Tommy Conway, who took one touch to spin away from his defender before producing a brilliant left-foot finish.
Just six minutes after the opening goal, Boro doubled their lead thanks to Samuel Iling-Junior, who finished off an assist from Iheanacho as his 20-yard strike took a deflection to wrongfoot Blackburn’s keeper on its way into the net.
Boro climbed to fifth spot in the league table, which is one of the English Premier League promotion play-off spots.
Blackburn, without the injured Nigeria international Emmanuel Dennis, are 11th.
