Double Disappointment For Free-Scoring Simy Nwankwo

The prolific ex-Gil Vicente man endured another disappointing night on Tuesday as his side edged closer and closer to a return to Serie B

For the first time in eight games, Nigerian forward Simeon Nwankwo failed to find the back of the net as Crotone lost 0-1 at the Stadio Ezio Scida to Sampdoria.

The former Portimonense ace also missed the chance to break Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s record as the Nigerian with the most goals in a single campaign in Europe’s top five leagues this millennium.

Aiyegbeni scored 17 goals for Blackburn Rovers in the 2011/2012 Premier League season.

Simy has been unstoppable in front of goal even as the Pythagoreans continued to stumble from one defeat to another.

While Serse Cosmi’s men were putting together a terrible run of 12 losses in 13 games, Simy was blasting goals of all types from all angles against Atalanta, Torino, Lazio, Napoli, and Udinese, among others.

It is not often one sees a striker among the best four most prolific in the Serie A playing for a team rooted to the base of the league table.

But that is precisely what Simy has done with his 17 league goals placing him alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, and Luis Muriel among the best finishers in Italy.

Ten of Simy’s goals had come in seven consecutive matches, but Sampdoria halted that run when a 53rd-minute Fabio Quagliarella effort sealed a fine away victory for Claudio Ranieri’s side.

Losing his scoring streak while his team still lost would have significantly disappointed Simy, even as Crotone are unavoidably doomed for relegation.

A terrible campaign it has been for the Pythagoreans, but Simy can take heart in his record-breaking performances that have seen him regularly compared with Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Obafemi Martins, and other legends of the game.

With that, he can find at least one reason to be grateful.