Enyimba Fc suffers second NPFL straight defeat in one week

Enyimba International Football Club of Aba, Abia State on Sunday suffered yet another 2-0 defeat to its Southeast counterpart, Ifeanyi Uba Football Club in an away fixture of the ongoing Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) match played at the Ifeanyi Ubah Stadium in Nnewi, Anambra State.

This is coming four days after Enyimba FC lost with the same 2-0 margin to Heartland Football Club of Owerri in an Oriental Derby at the Aba Stadium on Wednesday, January 15.

The win at the Aba Stadium by the visiting Owerri team managed by Fidelis Ilechukwu after being signed from Mountain of Fire Ministries FC by ousted Imo governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha ended a two year home record held by Enyimba in their NPFL campaign where they have played unbeaten at home.

But Enyimba’s head coach, Fatai Osho bemoaned ‘elementary errors’ made by his side in Sunday’s 2-0 loss to FC Ifeanyi Uba in Nnewi.

Uche Sabastine and Ikenna Cooper scored either side of the interval to subject Enyimba to a second Nigeria Professional Football League loss in four days, following Wednesday’s home defeat to Heartland.

The defeat added to Enyimba’s wobbly form, as the People’s Elephant, despite sealing a firm 4-1 win against Paradou AC in the CAF Confederation Cup, are without a league win in a month. 

Speaking to the club’s media channel afterwards, Osho made no hesitation in identifying problems that led to the loss.

“We deserve to get something out of it but unfortunately we committed some elementary errors which at this level of football is most unacceptable and when you commit such errors you can only live to pay the price. 

“We saw how the first goal happened, and the second was also a dash, and at the end of the day we are licking our wounds.

“We cannot be throwing these points away while trying to get the team intact. There are some situations we could have helped ourselves to salvage these points but it has been like that since the beginning of the season where we keep giving away cheap goals and we can’t do that at this level of competition.  That has been the bane of the team where you work so hard and at the end of the day you make it easy for the opponents to get these goals.”

The People’s Elephant, despite coming close to scoring on multiple occasions in Nnewi, were distinctly far from their fluid best. This Osho attributes to the nature of the turf at the FC Ifeanyi Uba Stadium.

“The playing surface is not the encouraging type. That’s a complete eyesore at the level of the NPFL. It forced us to adjust the way we play.  “Our tactical approach definitely changed. If you know you won’t be able to pass the ball the way you want to pass it, you have to resort to certain ways of playing and that’s not really good enough for us.”