It was indeed a dramatic late setback for Rivers United FC as they suffered loss in the Nigeria Premier Football League title race after a stoppage-time goal from Qamar Adegoke, who handed Shooting Stars SC a thrilling 2–1 victory in their rescheduled Matchday 24 clash at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan.
Both Shooting Stars and Rivers United traded attacking moments throughout the evening in what turned out to be a breathless end-to-end contest, but it was the hosts who ultimately snatched maximum points with the very last action of the match.
Finidi reflects on the late setback
During the post match conference, Finidi George, the Rivers United head coach admitted the decisive moment simply reflected the unpredictable nature of football.
“He said that this is football, on that note, he is not thinking about anything,” Finidi said while reflecting on the final moments. “They had their free kick, and luckily for them, we couldn’t deal with it. And that’s football.
“If that ball didn’t drop, we would have dealt with the ball while in the air, and that chance wouldn’t have fallen for them. “But it’s football, we have to accept it and then move on.”
The defeat for the pride of Rivers came during a demanding stretch of four consecutive away fixtures for Rivers United, and the coach admitted a draw would have been valuable.
“Yeah, it would have added an extra point to the lead,” he said.
“But it’s an outstanding match. We still have another outstanding match. Now we just have to think about resting the players properly so that we can play the match against Ikorodu City FC.”
Concentration the key lesson
However, the former Super Eagles star, insisted there was little fundamentally wrong with his team’s performance. “We all watched the game, nothing went wrong,” he explained. “Sometimes in the last part of the game, you just have to concentrate a little bit more and see how you can deal with those long balls.
“We couldn’t. That last ball, we couldn’t deal with it, and we got punished. “We learned from that.”
Title race still wide open
Notwithstanding, as the season is entering its decisive phase, the Rivers United head coach refused to make bold promises about winning the title.
“I don’t have to assure anybody. I can’t assure anybody anything,” he said.
“We all started the league together with other teams. So, if we are two points ahead at this point in time, yeah, it’s based on merit.
“We’ll continue to work with the players. By the time we have eight matches left, we’ll see where we are.”
We Couldn’t Deal With The Last Ball -Finidi Reacts To 3SC Late Defeat
