Two goals within the space of twenty-five second-half minutes from Fortune Omoniwari and Nelson Esor were enough to earn maximum points for Rivers United against MFM FC in an NPFL matchday 16 tie at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium Omagwa.
After a near-even first-half, Rivers United took the lead early in the second period, with Fortune Omoniwari scoring his fourth league goal of the season. With few options open to him, Fortune porked home the match opener in the 49th minutes.
It got even better for the “Pride of Rivers” in the 74th minute as Nelson Esor rounded up a move he started with a cheeky finish after combining well with Godwin Aguda. It was the midfielder’s third NPFL goal this season, and it was celebrated with suitable gusto by the players.
There were few alarms after that. MFM’s best chances had come in the first half. Abiodun Akande tipped over Muyiwa Balogun’s outstanding long range shot in the 16th minutes, while the impressive Ishaq Kayode and Stephen Gopey both forced Folarin Abayomi into saves before the final whistle. It was enough to inflict MFM’s sixth league defeat this season.
Technical manager of Rivers United, Stanley Eguma admitted that his side is getting it right and that a change of tactics in the second half closed up the win.
“Well it’s good, I like us to win because it’s very very good to win. Sometimes you don’t get it right at home but this time we are getting it right and I think it’s good for us and I thank the players for their effort.”
“It’s not that the match is easy like we saw MFM team gave us a very good fight. We never underrated them because we knew they were coming here to fight because of their position on the log is not also good but in the first half it was a very difficult game, second half we had to change our tactics in other to undo them and we got the two goals,” Eguma said in a chat with our official website, www.riversunitedfc.com.ng.
United climbed to fifth on the NPFL standings with 26 points from 15 matches while MFM now sit in sixteenth place on the log with 17 points from 15 games.
