Austine: Rivers United were determined against Kwara United

Rivers United’s Austine Festus revealed that their hard work and determination was rewarded after they earned a stoppage-time winner against Kwara United in Ilorin on Sunday.

The Pride of Rivers have been unable to secure away win for about three seasons now but they found their winning aura at the Kwara Sports Complex when Chikere Osita struck in the 94th minute.

The skipper of the victorious Rivers United, Austine said that they kept on pushing harder and very strong defensively knowing that they could secure a positive result with more resilience and that he and his teammates were overjoyed to get their first away points of the season.

“I will say I wasn’t surprised that we won this game. We have been trying our best since the beginning of the season to see to it that we do something about our away form which we are not happy about,” Austine told Goal.

"We were extremely happy when the decisive goal came very late in the game.

“We said to ourselves before the match that we could achieve a result in Ilorin if we stick together and remain very hard working, dedicated and determined. It was what we did and even more.

"We felt we could seal the maximum points at the dying moments of the game and he came all out. We were fortunate to get the important goal.

“We will build on this result and use it as what we are going to be measuring our performance with. We want to return to the continent and it is our conviction that we are going to get the ticket at the end of the season."

Rivers United have moved to fourth in the league table with 16 points from 10 matches.