Poor pitch disrupted Rivers United’s gameplans at Sunshine Stars – Stanley Eguma

By Saheed Afolabi

Rivers United tactician, Stanley Eguma have expressed his dissatisfaction over the state of the pitch in Akure as he insists cost his team the victory against Sunshine Stars in an Nigeria Premier Football League encounter.

Andrew Abalogu gifted the defending champions the lead at the Akure Township Stadium but Ejike Uzoenyi’s late strike from the spot forced the contest to a 1-1 draw and former Dophins coach feels good with the valuable point.

“Well it’s better than nothing, but I think the plan to get the three points is at stake but we give God the glory that we were able to get one point,” Eguma told media.

“I think the result didn’t reflect the standard of the game, the way we played, the chances we lost, we should have scored like three to four goals, is just that the players were not clinical up front, we lost a lot of scoring chances in the first half, while in second half Sunshine Stars came up stronger, fighting hard and got that penalty.

“I give them kudos for coming back to fight hard and it was a keenly contested game. A very good game to put us in a better position as we prepare for continental competition.  Our bane today was the pitch honestly speaking. The pitch didn’t allow us play because my players were complaining of hard turf and stoney ground and it didn’t help our game at all.”

The defending champions have garnered four points from two games and will play host to Niger Tornadoes in their next game at the 40,000 capacity Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium.