Abd’Allah rues missed
opportunity as Jigawa hold
Enyimba
NPFL
Enyimba Coach, Usman Abd’Allah believes his team would have left the Sani Abacha Stadium, venue of their Week Nine game against Jigawa Golden Stars, with three points if his strikers were more clinical.
Jigawa rallied to hold Enyimba to a 1-1 draw in the game dominated by the defending champions.
Enyimba took the lead in the sixth minute when Victor Mbaoma headed in Stanley Okorom’s freekick, but Jigawa drew level three minutes to the end of the half with Munir Ubale’s powerful finish.
Speaking after the match,
Abd’Allah, who welcomed the final outcome of the game, said: “I think it is a game we should have won but all the same we got one point away from home and we still have a lot of away matches to play.
“If we couldn’t get it in Kano we will get it somewhere else. The most important thing is to get something away. If you can’t get the maximum point you get a point and when you go back home you grab the whole of the three points. But unfortunately last week we dropped two points at home and then we got a point today.
“From what is happening with the team with a lot of injuries and all these tiredness and all these fatigues that has been with the team from all these traveling and this continental assignment, I think we will keep on working to make sure that we will be back to our rightful place.”
Abd’Allah opted for four natural central midfield players in his lineup for the fixture, with Faouk Mohammed, Jean-Marie Guera, Dayo Ojo and Cyril Olisema getting the nod to start.
This, the gaffer explained, was a tactical switch occasioned by injuries within the squad.
“Normally we have the wide players that play from the left and right, but of recent it’s either they are not picking up in
form or most of them are
injured.
“You see Zenke is out because of injury and (Stanley) Dimgba is just recovering back and Anayo also just recovered back and Orok has a blister and can’t play.
So that is why we decided to play with this formation with the natural midfielders. At the end of the day, we still came back to substitute and bring another wide player to play.
“It’s just a tactical formation depending on the kind of players you have. Those are the players available so I have to choose a choice that will benefit the team.”
Enyimba Football Club will redirect focus to the CAF Confederation Cup with a Group D fixture against Paradou AC scheduled for next Sunday in Algeria.
CULLED FROM: GUARDIAN