From Abel Leonard, Lafia
Nasarawa United and Gombe United played out a 1-1 draw at the New Jos Stadium in a Nigeria Premier Football League match-day fourteen clash on Saturday evening.
The first half ended in a goalless stalemate, but Gombe United took the lead in a bizarre manner when Nasarawa United’s goalkeeper, Mohammed Galadima, turned a cross by Usman Abbas into his own net in the 71st minute. However, Nasarawa United managed to equalize in the 84th minute, thanks to a cheeky strike by Nigeria’s U-20 youth attacker, Ayuba Francis.
The score remained 1-1 until the final whistle, and the result left Nasarawa United in 9th position on the Group ‘A’ log with ten points. The team will face Plateau United at the New Jos Stadium on Sunday, 30th April 2023, at 4 pm.
During the match, Victor Dawa, Samuel Ogunjimi, and Anayo Ogbonna of Gombe United received yellow cards. In the post-match reactions, Nasarawa United’s assistant coach, Abubakar Arika, expressed disappointment with the team’s performance, while Gombe United’s assistant coach, Bashir Saleh, was pleased with the result and optimistic about the team’s next game against Shooting Stars in Ibadan.
ABUBAKAR ARIKYA(A.T/A NAS): “It’s unfortunate that our plans didn’t work out as expected.
“Our performance today was different from our previous games because we were expecting a better and higher performance from the boys.
“Our opponents today played very well; they were better off on the ball because to they played to instructions.
“Unfortunately, my boys didn’t play to instructions and that cost us the maximum points.
“Nevertheless, we are optimistic of beating the drop zone.”
BASHIR SALEH(ASST. COACH, GOM): “We are happy for today’s result, even though we were hoping for an outright win.
“During the break, we had some encouraging pep talks with the players which had a huge impact on how we performed in the reverse half.
“Going forward, we are determined to pick maximum points on the road against Shooting Stars in Ibadan in our next game.”
Daily Sun reports that the line-up for Nasarawa United included Galadima Mohammed, Abubakar Abdullahi, Aminu Yusuf, Chidera Nduka, Victor Collins, Benjamin Frederick, Anas Yusuf, Adamu Hassan, Kazeem Abdulrafiu, Joshua John, and King Osanga. The team’s unused substitutes were Ameh Godwin, Nelson Abiam, Manga Mohammed, and Dauda Maigishiri.
