NPFL: Rivers United win at home after two straight losses

Rivers United Football Club of Port Harcourt on Sunday defeated visiting Niger Tornadoes FC 1-0 in a Nigeria Professional League Match Day 26 fixture after two consecutive losses.
Bernard Ovoke scored the match’s lone goal in the 22nd minute at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt.
After the match, Rivers United’s Coach, Stanley Eguma, told sportswriters he was happy with the maximum points they got from the match.
Eguma said: “Today’s game is not the best performance of the season from the way our players performed.
“They became nervous when they failed to convert most of the chances which came their way after the only goal.
“However, at this stage of the season, the result is more important than performance.
“So, I am happy that we were able to get the three points today.”
Eguma commended Niger Tornadoes for putting up a good game against his team.
He said: “Niger Tornadoes are a very good team.
“They fought very hard, they played well.
“I can say that they have a good team.”
Niger Tornadoes’ Head Coach, Bala Abubakar, said his team lost the game because of their failure to convert a penalty kick in the 35th minute.
Gabriel Wassa had poorly played the penalty kick.
Abubakar said: “Rivers United is a very good team.
“They deserved to win.
“The decisive moment was when we missed the penalty kick, which we should have used to draw the game level.
“If we had scored the penalty kick in the first half, the game could have been different because it would have been 1-1.”
Abubakar however said the host team played very well and deserved the victory.