The Nigerian forward and Zambia defender featured prominently but could not help their side to avoid their fourth consecutive loss
Ugochukwu Oduenyi and Shemmy Mayembe were on parade for FC Minai in their 4-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in Thursday’s Ukrainian Premier League game.
Oduenyi was one of the players the Avanhard Stadium outfit acquired in an effort to fortify the side to avoid a quick return to the First League, having only got promoted to the top-flight last season.
The 25-year-old teamed up with Mykola Tsymbal’s men in January as a free agent after his contract with Austrian side SV Reid expired.
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The forward was handed his second league start at Stadion NSK Olimpiyskiy while his teammate and Zambia international Mayembe made his 21st league appearance in the encounter but their effort could not save Minai from their fourth consecutive defeat.
Shakhtar Donetsk raced into the lead in the 29th minute when Taras Stepanenko opened the scoring after benefitting from Dodo’s assist.
Manor Solomon doubled the lead in the 53rd minute when he hit his effort beyond the reach of goalkeeper Andriy Popovic.
Shakhtar Donetsk continued to dominate the encounter when Maycon Barberan scored in the 70th minute after receiving a pass from Dentinho.
With nine minutes left before the end of the game, Stepanenko completed his brace after benefitting from another Dodo’s assist.
Oduenyi made effort to try and reduced the deficit but Luis Castro’s men frustrated the moves to ensure they claimed all three points.
The Nigerian striker featured for the duration of the game along with Mayembe in the encounter as FC Minai suffered their 15th defeat of the campaign.
The defeat further condemned the Avanhard Stadium outfit to the bottom of the league table after only acquiring 18 points from 25 games.
Oduenyi and Mayembe will hope to help Minai return to winning ways when they take on Vorskla in their next league game on May 9.
The centre-forward had previously starred for the Austrian Bundesliga club LASK, NK Sesvete, SV Horn before joining SV Ried.
The forward, who started his career at Emmanuel Amuneke academy, will hope to make a more meaningful impact at the club level to catch the attention of the Nigeria national team handler.
