Rivers United head coach, Stanley Eguma has attributed their 2-1 defeat to Lobi Stars to two costly errors from his defenders which they paid dearly for at the end of the rescheduled league tie played in Makurdi.
Eguma opined that the Pride of Rivers' worst result at the Aper Aku Stadium, Makurdi should have been a draw irrespective of what their opponents threw at them but that they had their efforts decimated by the mistakes they made in the defence which they must work on in subsequent matches if they are to measure up to standard.
The gaffer pointed out that the Pride of Rivers left for Makurdi with high expectations but before they knew what hit them, they were already two goals down and that by the time they could reduce the arrears in the second half their opponents had already devised ways to keep their advantage through various means.
“It was a game we left Port Harcourt for with high hope but our hope got dashed partly because of the individual errors we made in the game,” Eguma told the media.
“The home team devised other means too but we won’t have given them room to do that had we not made the game difficult for ourselves through the mistakes we made. We must move on from this defeat and try to regroup ahead of the game with Wikki Tourists. We can’t afford to commit such blunders in our subsequent matches. It was a painful experience that after we have worked so hard we threw away the points the way we did without much resistance because of the individual errors we committed.
Next matches
“The home team devised some gamesmanship tactics to ensure that we didn’t have the opportunity to stage a comeback as soon as they were two goals up but we were the one that gave them the opportunity to achieve their aim. We will live to fight another day but the players need to be more alive to their responsibilities which to ensure that we stay alert throughout the course of the game.”
Rivers United will up against Wikki Tourists at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Port Harcourt on Sunday in a matchday 12 tie and Eguma said that he would like to see a more professional approach from his wards to ensure that they pick the three points at stake.
“We must put the result of the game with Lobi Stars behind us and think of what we must do to pick the maximum points against Wikki Tourists who also beat us in Gombe when we faced them last weekend,” Eguma continued.
“We can’t afford to throw away more free points. We must give all against Wikki Tourists to ensure that we avenge our loss to them and to also halt the two consecutive defeats that we have had. We must remain very resolute and strive to go for the three points.”
Rivers United have dropped to the sixth spot in the league table with 13 points from 10 games as a result of the loss to Lobi Stars.