By Abdul Raheem
Jigawa Golden Stars’ inconsistent home form continued on Wednesday as they were held to a score draw by visiting Wikki Tourists in a Nigeria Professional FootballbLeagye (NPFL) Match-day 26 tie at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.
It certainly was a result that Coach Gilbert Opuana never wished for especially against a Wikki side that have struggled lately.
Opuama though laid the blames on the team’s defense as well as what he called bad moments.
Speaking after the match, Opuana said the team is going through a difficult time. “It was not the result we expected but we accept it in good faith. We conceded the equalising goal due to loss of concentration. We are facing a difficult time and we have a few worries in the midfield”, he told www.npfl.ng
“The defence is costing me lots of goals. This is not the type of goal we should be conceding. When you are playing to win and you have scored the next thing to do is to defend the goal but our defence failed to do that. We will continue to work on the team ahead of our next match against Pillars.”
The Northern derby, as the two teams share borders, lived up to expectation as the two sides made efforts from the kick-off to pick all the points. While the Badaru Boys were trying to control the midfield, the Yankari Boys resorted to long range shots, two of which were on target.
Though Wikki brought in Idris Guda and Sale Mohammed few minutes into the second half, it was Jigawa Stars that made hay. First, Mohammed Gidado’s shot was smothered by Wikki’ keeper, Ibrahim Pius, then Abdullahi Lala made a pullout which Saidu Abdullahi nodded home.
The lead didn’t last long as 12 minutes later, the Yankari Boys equalised when striker and captain, Manu Garba volleyed home a pass from the right wing beating Paul Godwin in Jigawa goal.
For Wikki Tourists Coach, Baba Jibrin, it was a good result which made him happy, saying he is going back to Bauchi to prepare for their next home match against FC IfeanyiUbah.
“I’m happy that we picked up a point here. We would go back home, work hard to prepare for IfeanyiUbah.
“This is my fourth match here but I’m very sure we will end the season in a better position. We lacked the scoring ability because we create lots of chances but we have failed to score many of them.”
