Gombe United head coach Ladan Bosso was disappointed by his team’s failure to convert numerous scoring chances as they ultimately paid with a 1-1 draw against Kogi United in the opening game of the Nigeria National League (NNL) Super Eight tournament.
In the game decided at the Enyimba Stadium in Aba (venue of this year’s competition) on Sunday morning, Joseph Onoja gave Bosso’s side a dream lead with a 2nd minute goal but after they failed to add to the tally, Ibrahim Enesi restored parity for Kogi in the 62nd minute.
The Desert Scorpions (as Gombe United are known) had further chances to win the game late on but winger Abdulazeez Yusuff and striker Adamu Mohammed failed to hit the target in very good scoring positions. This left Bosso frustrated.
“It wasn’t a bad game. I can say the organisational aspect of the whole thing was perfect. We were not able to get the three points because we were too wasteful in the goal mouth of the opponent,” said the former Nigeria Under 20 coach to www.aclsports.com after the match.
“Gombe United are a team (with the qualify) for the Premier League and with what we have done so far, it remains just to work on the finishing. That is what we are to do as coaches, to watch the strengths and weaknesses of the team and work on the aspects. Improve on the weaknesses and equally improve the aspect of strengths.
“You could see Kogi United were even celebrating the draw because they know we were not evenly matched but because we were wasteful in the goalmouth that’s why it happened. We will identify the problems in this first match and work on them against the next match,” added Bosso whose team will face Real Stars FC in their second group game on Monday.
Bosso’s opposite number at Kogi United, Abubakar Musa believes the result was a good one for his team and expects them to build on it in their subsequent games.
“The result is appealing for us because there are three outcomes in every match: you win, you draw, or you lose. So I think this is just like a springboard because we got the one point, I think it’s good for us and we will build on it.”
Kogi United will also play their second game on Monday against Kaduna based side, Kada City. The top two teams in the group will gain promotion to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) for the 2018/19 season. Two more teams will join from Group B which has Insurance, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC), Delta Force and Remo Stars.
Fisayo Dairo, reporting from Aba
