Rivers United trip to face FC Ifeanyiubah for a matchday 4 encounter in Nnewi on Wednesday and team’s Technical manager Stanley Eguma has stern words for his team’s tendency to struggle in the latter stages of games which leaves them unable to convert the avalanche of goalscoring opportunities that come their way.
United’s home games this season have followed a particular pattern: almost total domination of their opponents, especially in the aspect of chances created but putting the goalscoring opportunities away have seemingly been extremely difficult, a situation that has left Eguma exasperated.
“We could not convert the avalanche of chances (that came our way against Niger Tornadoes on Sunday) despite creating so many and that is a big worry to me. It’s a big worry for me and one of the biggest headaches I am facing at present.
“We will represent Nigeria on the continent and should be scoring goals freely but that is not happening. We have to go back and work on this,” he told the club’s official website, http://www.riversunitedfc.com.ng.
Ivorien striker, Guy Kuemian Venance, who netted United’s solitary goal against Tornadoes on Sunday shares Eguma’s sentiments and insists he and his teammates must improve in their efficiency in the final third.
“We cannot continue like this because failing to score when you have chances puts you under enormous pressure.
“In our first home match (of the season against El-Kanemi Warriors), we should have scored six or seven and it was the same situation (against Tornadoes on Sunday).
“The coach (Eguma) has every right to be unhappy because we all know the amount of hard work he puts in in the training ground every day.
“Now, we must work extremely hard ahead of our next game against a very difficult opponent like FC Ifeanyiubah,” he said.
The Pride of Rivers have won two and drawn one of their opening three games of the season, amassing seven out of a possible nine points and sit in joint second-place with ABS but behind early front-runners Plateau United who have the only 100% record in the league.
CREDIT: Original story culled from http://www.npfl.com.ng
KAYODE KAYBABA OGUNDARE 