The coach of Senator Godswill Akpabio FC, Coach Kingsley Lawrence, has blamed ill luck for their loss to Rovers FC of Calabar during a Division 3 encounter at UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar, yesterday evening.
The coach, however, mentioned that they lost to an older but inexperienced team.
The sweat-soaked encounter ended 1-0 in favor of the home team, Rovers FC, in the final minutes of the second half.
Akpabio’s players missed several scoring chances, especially in the first half when they dominated the game.
“We had many chances, but the lack of scoring goals stopped us from beating Rovers FC. We dominated them, but we can’t blame nature; that’s how it is supposed to be.”
“We take our defeat in good faith. Rovers are a good team, but they are not superior to us, despite the fact that they have been around for nearly 40 years and we’re less than one year old. Yet we held them spellbound.”
“We had a game plan which worked well. It is not a matter of winning at all costs.”
“As for officiating, I don’t like to complain because it won’t change the result. Our appeal to NNL is that they should monitor the antics of referees to prevent them from undermining the league.”
Rovers FC were under serious pressure from officials and a handful of supporters to win. This pressure resulted in their porous defense, which visiting Akpabio FC could not capitalize on.
The Technical Adviser of Rovers, Elder Caleb Esu, said, “Our boys were in high spirits, and they really put in their best. This was why they defeated Akpabio. We’re very happy.”
Last weekend, Rovers defeated Abubakar Bukola Saraki FC of Ilorin 3-2 in Ilorin, Kwara State.
Caleb said that his main goal is to revamp the team, move it to the Premier League, and restore its glory days of the late 1980s and 1990s.
