Heartland FC of Owerri have moved three points clear of the relegation zone and into the top ten after their stunning 2-1 away win against Niger Tornadoes in a rescheduled league game played at the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja on Wednesday evening.

The away side shocked their hosts with a 6th minute strike from Lucky Emariojake before that lead was doubled by Mohammed Afeez three minutes before halftime.

Eric Frimpong came close to reducing the deficit as he hit the woodwork on the stroke of halftime. Bashir Usman eventually pulled one back for the hosts four minutes into the second half and could have produced a 73rd minute equaliser for last year’s AITEO Cup finalists only for his strike to hit the woodwork.

The away side thereafter held on for the remainder of the game to secure a first win in three years (3-1 victory over Kwara United some 1,025 days).

The surprising away win was enough to lift Heartland (10 points) nine places up the table from 16th to 7th while Nasarawa United (6 points) stay in 19th position.