Deji Ayeni explains Akwa United slip up after draw with struggling Nasarawa United

By Saheed Afolabi

Head coach of Akwa United, Deji Ayeni has hit hard on his players for loosing concentration at a latter stage of the Nigeria Premier Football League encounter against Nasarawa United on Sunday.

Struggling Nasarawa forced the Promise Keepers to a dramatic 2-2 draw at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo with Akwa United letting Nasarawa United back into the game with a late equalizer to share the spoils in the game.

The Promise Keepers tactician described football as a game of unpredictability as he vows that the team will visit the drawing board to correct their mistakes and re-strategize.

“So when you are winning, you become the friend of everybody but when you are loose, you are on your own. So today I will hold the responsibility of our team playing draw today, it’s not the end of the world,” Ayeni said.

“That’s football, sometimes you win, you loose or you draw. So I think we are on the draw side today so I think that’s how football is all about. We have to go back again to go and re-strategize and work on our lapses, that’s just it.

“You can see the boys, they really gave their best. Sometimes, football can be very dynamic. Towards the end of the match, all the opponent in our 18 yard box supposed to be cleared out but I think there was a lack of concentration that resulted into that goal.

“During the second round, they made some recruitment into the team and you can see through their result when they came to Enyimba and you can see the results when they went back home to loose.

“So they came out with full force. Football is not something that can be predictable, today I’m on the draw side, tomorrow I might be on the winning side.”

Akwa United ranked second on the NPFL group A with 23 points from 13 matches will visit Plateau United at the New Jos stadium, Jos on the 16th of April 2023.