Akwa United Head Coach, Fatai Osho, almost ran away with an away draw with the Promise Keepers in Aba, but for Somiari Alalibo’s 69th-minute power drive that changed the game in favour of the home side Enyimba on Sunday, October 15 at Enyimba International Stadium.Enyimba had romped to an early 2-0 in the first half with quick goals scored by Innocent Gabriel and Chijioke Mbaoma in the 12th and 14th minutes respectively. Ekure Ebong’s goal in the first-half stoppage time reduced the scoreline to 2-1, and David Philip made it 2-2 for Akwa United with a 67th-minute goal.
The 3-2 away defeat at Enyimba ensured that Akwa United are still confined perilously at the very bottom of the 2023/2024 NPFL table with one point from three games.
Also Read: Enyimba Will Come Stronger To Retain NPFL Title –Assistant Coach, Olanrewaju
Speaking to Completesports.com after the game, Osho said his boys put up a brilliant performance despite the scoreline and will continue to fight to get to winning ways.
Interview by CHIGOZIE CHUKWULETA.
Excerpts…
Completesports.com: Coach, Akwa United lost to Enyimba by 3 goals to two despite a spirited fight. How would you appraise the game?
Osho: Quite unfortunate
I believe strongly that we deserved something from this game. We started on a fairly bad note. There was something we tried to do to slow down the threat coming from Enyimba, but it didn’t work actually. We wanted to see how it could tackle the backline and on the other hand, throw off their attacking players, but it didn’t work actually.
We had to go back to what we used to do. It was a brilliant performance from our players. Those goals came, it was expected. We know how we play our football. If you look at the way we score our goals there is a peculiarity in it, but we can just pick something from this performance and see how we play against the Shooting Stars.
You conceded two quick goals, fought back to make it 2-2, and almost immediately it went down 3-2 …
Yes, the energy level was not it. I told them at halftime that the energy level was not there. You don’t create a paradise for your opponents, you have to do contact sports. And for that one-on-one combat, you are never ready, and that is something we tried to correct in the second half and you could see the resilience and the never-give-up spirit that hindered the fluidity of the Enyimba team.
One of your players didn’t feature today, Cyril Oyisela. What is the condition with him, is he still a player of Akwa United?
He is still a player of Akwa United but is not available for this match.
With only one point from three games, Akwa United fans are worried. What do say about this?
Of course, we are being paid to get points for them, they deserve to be worried. The onus is on us to turn things around quickly enough to make them happy. We are the ones that are being paid, those supporters are not being paid. The joy they derive from this is when we win. So, of course, they are not happy that we lost. We have to work hard and make them happy.
So how do you achieve this happiness?
By winning exactly, by just winning. at the risk of sounding proud or bragging, we have played three matches and no team has outplayed us. We exhibited how a typical Nigerian team should play on the road and scoring five goals on the road is unprecedented.
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