Rivers United came from a goal down to
beat Abuja based side, City Strikers FC 4-1 in a wonderfully-open and
entertaining pre-season friendly match played at the Goal Project, Abuja on
Thursday. United were stunned when the unheralded Abuja side took the lead
inside the opening five minutes following a breath taking counter attack.
That
was as good as it would get for the Abuja club as United’s superiority and
class shone through in the end.
Stung into action, last season’s Nigeria
Professional Football League (NPFL) runners up responded, with a deadly dose of
attacking football that left their opponents spell-bound.
New boy, Daouda Ouattara was the stand
out performer as his excellently-taken brace in the 10th and 36th minutes
capped a debut to remember.
His
first was a fearsome volley, smashed into the top corner from the edge of the
box while his second was a work of art; poetry in motion.
Best
‘Messi’ Deemua created space on the left after some nifty footwork that left
his marker for dead as he honed in on goal.
The
pint-sized midfielder then crossed delightfully for the onrushing Ouattara to
produce an intelligently-weighted looping header that left the City Strikers
goal keeper shame faced.
The
stunning nature of the goal had even some City strikers’ fans applauding as
United went into the break 3-1 up following an expertly-taken penalty converted
by Chiwendu Ali midway into the first stanza.
The United technical manager, Stanley
Eguma rang the changes at the interval, introducing more familiar faces like
Sunday Rotimi, Festus Austine, Gabriel Olalekan, Christian Weli, Godwin Obinze,
Godbless Asamoah and Bernard Ovoke.
Ovoke quickly imposed himself on the
game, dictating the play and carving goal scoring opportunities at will.
He came close to adding a goal scoring
contribution in the 52nd minute but watched as his dangerous free kick sailed
agonizingly wide.
Shortly before the end, Asamoah provided
the coup de grace with a simply audacious finish; chipping the goalkeeper from
35 yards to draw appreciative noises from a healthy crowd.
Speaking after the game, Eguma explained
the rationale behind the test game and what he had been able to achieve so far
with the ‘Pride of Rivers’ in pre-season.
“Most of the individuals who played
today were doing so with the team for the very first time. We are trying to
ascertain their levels of fitness and see how they (embrace our philosophy). That
was why we had mostly new players in the first half and the (retained players
from last season) play in the second half. The integration of the old and new
players is extremely important for us,” he told the club’s official website,
www.riversunitedfc.com.ng
Rivers United
will represent Nigeria in the 2017 Caf Champions League.
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