Rivers United FC’s Chief Coach, Willie Udube, says the team is now under pressure to improve its performance after they battled to a 1-1 draw with Akwa United last Wednesday.
The coach told newsmen after the encounter that the draw at home had put more pressure on them to win their away match against Rangers International of Enugu on Sunday.
“If I say that we are not under pressure, I’m lying because even this game, we planned to win and get the maximum points but unfortunately it didn’t work.
“We are not expecting a draw at home at this critical point in the league,’’ he said.
The chief coach, however, said that all hope was not lost because they could still go away and get the maximum points.
“I think if we put our acts together, we can get positive results in our remaining games,’’ he said.
He assured their fans that the club would not go on relegation and pleaded with them to be patient.
Akwa United Assistant Coach, Aliyu Waziri, while reacting to the game, said that the draw in Port Harcourt was painful because they were supposed to win convincingly.
“We had many chances that we missed, including a penalty kick. This is a match that we ought to have won because winning the game wouldn’t have been too much.
“You saw the game, perhaps, for picking a point, I will appreciate it that we didn’t lose, but the draw does not call for congratulation,’’ he said. Waziri further said, the team was still hopeful of catching up with the league leaders, Plateau United FC of Jos because the opportunities were available.
“If we had won this match, we would have reduced the points difference to 2, so, they have yet to escape because anything can happen,’’ he said.
It would be recalled that Musa Newman scored for the visiting team in the 11th minute, while Emeka Ogbugh equalised for the hosts in the 14th minute.
Alhassan Ibrahim missed a penalty kick against the home side in the 21st minute.