Rivers United coach Stanley Eguma reveals reason for NPFL title loss to Enyimba

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Rivers United coach, Stanley Eguma believes fatigue was the major reason why his team surrendered the 2022/2023 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) title to Enyimba on Sunday.

The Pride of Rivers side needed a win to retain the title but played out a 1-1 draw with the People’s Elephants at Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos.

The result means the Port Harcourt-based side failed to defend the title they won last year with Finidi George’s side smiling home with the trophy on superior goal difference after both finished the Super Six with nine points apiece.

And the veteran manager lamented the missed chances and laid more emphasis on fatigue as the key reason they couldn’t defend the title.

”We plan to defend our title but unfortunately, we couldn’t, until the last day we had our game plan but we conceded an early goal, we came back in the second half and created a lot of scoring chances and we couldn’t convert,” Eguma told journalists after the game.

“But all the same is football, I think coming from the continent it was a long way, fatigue, wear, and tear, it affected the boys till now we play matches almost every 48 hours.”

Eguma and his side will have to make do with qualification for the CAF Confederation Cup and hope to progress past the quarter-final after its third-placed finish.

Remo Stars picked the second CAF Champions League slot with a second-placed finish, while Enyimba also qualified for the CAF Champions League.