Obafemi Martins ends two-year goal drought as Wuhan Zall continue relegation fight

Obafemi Martins scored his first goal since March 2018 as Wuhan Zall held Henan Jianye to a 1-1 draw in the Chinese Super League play-offs on Friday.

The 35-year-old came off the bench in the 57th minute to score a stoppage-time equaliser for the home team at the Dalian Sports Center.

Martins linked up with Ivory Coast's Jean Kouassi to cancel out Wang Shangyuan's 25th-minute opener for Henan Jianye, and also broke his Wuhan Zall duck since his free transfer from Shanghai Shenhua in September.

The strike ended Martins' two-year goal drought, since his last goals came as a hat-trick for Shanghai Shenhua in their 4-2 win over Hebei CFCC in a Chinese top-flight match.

A week ago, Wuhan Zall bowed to a 1-0 loss to Henan Jianye in the two-legged play-offs which still put them in the race against relegation after a 2-1 aggregate defeat, while Henan are saved from the drop and they will now compete for a place between the ninth and 12th spots.

Cameroon’s Christian Bassogog was also on parade in the encounter but he could not add to his tally of a goal after six matches for Henan Jianye so far this season.

Friday's goal extended Martins' tally in the Chinese Super League to 20 goals after 48 appearances since he arrived in the Asian country from Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders in 2016.

He has played in eight matches so far this campaign.