Rivers United exposed Akwa United's deficiencies in the 2-2 draw of Wednesday's high-profile friendly at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo, admits assistant coach Aliyu Zubairu.
Strikes from Ubong Friday and Michael Ibe gave the Promise Keepers a back-to-back lead but Yau Hassan and Bernard Ovoke helped the Pride of Rivers earn a draw.
And the gaffer was disappointed by his side’s failure to preserve their lead but is assuring that they work on improving their lapses ahead of their Sunday’s Federation Cup contest.
“It was a good game, though we took the lead in the match before they came from behind to equalise,” Zubairu told media.
“It was not good that we couldn’t hold on to our lead but we are certainly going to work on that. Though our performance was not bad, it is something worrisome.
Next matches
“We still have up to three days before our Federation Cup, so we have time to work on them. All along, we’ve been playing some lowly rated games and if we had based our assessments on that, this match proved us wrong.
“This match has exposed the deficiencies in the team and our match rustiness since we’ve not played a grade A match in the last two months. Everything we’ve observed, we are going to work on it.”
The reigning Federation Cup champions will start their title defence in the bid for a Caf Confederation Cup ticket against Hope of Glory in a Round of 64 clash on Sunday, September 9.
