Rivers United of Port Harcourt technical manager, Stanley Eguma has disclosed that his players are determined to keep surging up the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) table, as they aim to end as champions when the season finally comes to a close, megasportsarena.com reports.
Speaking in the wake of their 2-1 win against fellow-title contenders, Lobi Stars of Makurdi on Wednesday in The Garden City, Eguma said he was happy seeing his side go joint-top at the summit of the NFPL table, but admitted that the stakes are getting higher.
With Rivers United now on 27 points from 15 games, Eguma is standing tall once again, yet also staying cautious, after goals from Esor Nelson and Malachi Ohawume helped them romped to victory at home, with the first goal coming in the second minute.
Nelson headed home a cross by Konan N’gouan to set the win in motion and, though Lobi fought back to level scores through John Lazarus, who finished off a perfect defence splitting pass from Omotayo Adebogun, Eguma’s boys kept their heads to get the winning goal.
It, however, came only after several lost chances, and they came close on two occasions, when Stephen Gopey hit both posts for the hosts before Esor was denied by a goal line clearance just before the break, only for Ohawume to make hay with 17 minutes remaining.
That propelled The Pride Of Rivers to joint-top of the division and, as they prepare for their trip to battle away against Jagawa Golden Stars of Jaloingo in Kano on Sunday, Eguma acknowledged that the stakes are high for each team to eke out points at this stage of the season.
However, while admitting that the going is bound to get tougher at this stage of the season, Eguma added that he is not going to get unduly worried about The Garden City outfit’s chances of emerging as champions, as he insists his wards are good enough to weather the storm.
Eguma submitted: “We know the stakes are high. The stakes are always high in a game like this, so we were prepared for it. We put in all we had, and we are happy we got all three points. The stakes are quite high at this stage of the season, and we gave our best (for) the victory.”
