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| Rivers United File Out Against Enyimba |
It is just six games
into the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and for newly formed (or
is newly renamed?) Rivers United, there seems to be the familiar failings of
the defunct Dolphins Football Club, one of the clubs that merged to form this
new entity. For the whole of the 2014/2015, Dolphins actually never managed a
win away from. It is no surprise the 3 time NPFL Champions only managed to
escape relegation on the final day of the season by just a paltry one point
ahead of its sister club Sharks -who ended up in the lower division and
ultimately, resurrected with the merger of both clubs to form the new Rivers
United. If you think the rot only goes that far, well, think again. Even two
seasons ago, Dolphins also did not win a game away from its home ground, the
Yakubu Gowon Stadium (former Liberation Stadium). All the 15 wins they got in
the 2013/2014 season were won at home with only 6 points got away from home
courtesy of 6 draws.
For as long as last
season went, coach of the defunct Dolphins Stanley Eguma had one reason or the
other to explain the club’s failings. It was either his boys “lost
concentration,” “the referee was against his team” or his players “did not play
to instruction.” It became such a theme that some journalists in Port Harcourt
never bothered to ask for his post match reactions again because they could
easily predict what he would say. Fast forward months after, Dolphins doesn’t
exist anymore. We now have a combination of Dolphins and Sharks to form Rivers
United. Eguma is still in the saddle but those failings seem not to have found
a way to go away.
After the home game
against Nassarawa United on Match Day 5, Eguma explained some of the reasons
behind Rivers United’s poor start to the season away from home. Hear him: “We
are in need of reinforcements in certain areas. We have been playing certain
players out of position.
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| Stanley Eguma Rivers United Coach |
“Chigozie Ihunda is a
natural right back but because our first choice left back, Ali Chiwendu is
injured, we are playing him (Ihunda) in that position.
“Ayobami (Asekunowo)
is a central defender but he’s been made to play at right back and that’s why
he did not have a good game (versus Nasarawa United).
“In subsequent
matches, we will have our players back to our usual positions and that will see
us play our normal game,” he said.
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| Rivers United in Action |
Since that
explanation, one game has been played: last weekend’s 3:2 defeat against newly
promoted Niger Tornadoes. With the game played in a neutral ground, the Confluence
Stadium in Lokoja, one would have expected Rivers United to have seen this as a
golden opportunity to get a valuable point or three away from home. But after
about 70 minutes, the team was already down by 3 goals. Yes, there was a late
onslaught, but at the end of the day, the team still lost.
Coach Eguma was quick
to explain the situation again. “We started quite well but we conceded
that goal from a free kick at the stroke of half time.
“In
the second half, we conceded two quick goals as my players lost their heads.
“The good thing was the fight back but we will try
to correct our mistakes from our next match.”
Like
my colleague Paterson Mgbeoji noted when we analysed this on our radio show,
football game is played for 90 minutes. It doesn’t matter if you come out all
guns-blazing in the second half or last 20 minutes of a game if you’ve ended up
conceding 5 in the opening period. For many of his critics
and fans whose numbers have somewhat increased in recent seasons, the Rivers
State born tactician has asked for a bit of patience. According to Eguma, “What we have is a
young team. People are expecting us to play like Enugu Rangers, Kano Pillars
and Enyimba but it is not possible at this stage.
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| Eguma: Facing The Sack? |
“Most of them are
playing together for the first time. It’s just the tactical input and the
experience of a few of them that has carried us (over the line) in the games we
have played so far.”
However, we will soon
stabilize and everyone will see a better-playing Rivers United team,” he said.
Problem is, these explanations and excuses are
beginning to sound all too familiar. For a coach who has had two spells with
the defunct Dolphins spanning 10 years (and counting) with two trophies in his
kitty, a lot more is expected. Yes, we haven’t even gone one-third of the
season and it might be too early to judge; but if you consider what has
happened in the last two seasons, then, probably, there isn’t much to hope for.
It is high time we started seeing a better playing Rivers United team away from
home starting this weekend against 3SC in Ibadan.
-This piece first appeared last week Thursday as a column, Sixth Sense, on Port Harcourt based newspaper Independent Monitor.
CREDITS
Pictures courtesy goal.com, citynews.ng and completesports.com
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