Nasarawa United crawled back to reckoning in the Matchday 11 of Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL with a nervy 1-0 win over 10 man Wikki Tourists thanks to Mohamed Suleiman's rebounded effort in the 48th minutes.
The Solid Miners almost repeated similar scenario in the previous home game against Kwara United as they almost conceded late goal on Sunday but they had Wikki's Sadiq Umar to thank as the striker delayed to shoot till Abdulbasit Shittu thwarted his effort.
Nasarawa had advantage to open the score sheet with 15 minutes into the game but Nojeem Olukokun sluggishly shoot at goal which Ibrahim Pius gathered well.
Nasarawa were still pushing for the goal to reflect their perfect dominance with all attention on goal and also the conceded from counter in the 37th minutes when Wikki's Victor Alegbe stole possession and found Umar on the run but he was slow react as his weak shot was blocked by Manga Mohamed.
The Bauchi Elephants were reduced to ten men in the closing moments of half time when Baka Zakka was sent with a straight red card after elbowing Suleiman in the box.
Nasarawa United came out with renewed focused on resumption and attack with vigor which earned them the goal in the 48th minute.
After much of passes around Wikki's goal area, Douglas Achiv tried a shot from edge of the box, Pius dived full length to parry but Suleiman followed up with a rebound and shoot to the roof of the net before the keeper could recover.
Wikki raised their game soon after and took the fight to their hosts who didn't take advantage of the numerical advantage.
Victor Alagbe, Samuel Kalu and Abdulkareem Chindo combined well in weaving around some passes but weren't clinical in the final third.
Nasarawa found themselves closed to double their lead on three occasions but Kabir Balogun, Nojeem Olukokun and Suleiman were denied by Wikki's defend marshaled by Peter Ambrose and Ibrahim's brilliance.
And with just a minute to end the game, Nasarawa found them at mercies of Umar to lose two valuable points when the forward dummied Shittu and Mohammed in defense but he couldn't hit past helpless Ayeleso till Shittu recover to block his shot.
Technical Adviser of Solid Miners, Kabir Dogo who took positive from the result blamed his Boys for their profligacies and negligence which could have resulted to lose of points.
The soft spoken coach however said his boys would come good in their subsequent games adding that the team would work on their intensities.
"It was victory we were desperate to get, though it was a tough game, we could have scored more but its good we are back to winning which I believe will help the players to build their confidence," Dogo told Onward News.
"Yes, it was almost becoming a draw but you still need to give kudos to Shittu and the rest of the team for not allowing the mistakes to happen again, I do this will give them confidence to the next games and we hope to work on how reactions especially in the closing minutes of the game," he said.
His counterpart from Wikki Tourists, Bala Nikyu said the result did not reflect the performance of his team even as he gave credit to Umar who could have given the Bauchi based club a valuable point in the match.
The Flamingoes' coach however expressed confidence that Wikki would return to reckoning as he's now fully back for, national team's duty.
"I feel pained we lost this game because it's not the result we prepared for, at least a draw would have been fair result for us, but we have to take it like that and focus on the next task.
"The red card was a main factor for our defeat but we make sure it didn't reflect and I still have confidence in Umar because he's a good striker any day, may be today wasn't his day,p and I'm sure he will get more Goal is season now that I'm back with the team," Nikyu said.
Nasarawa United will next face Akwa United in Uyo while Wikki Tourists will host Rivers United in their next game.
Pic credit: @LMCNPFL
No comments:
Post a Comment