Naija Super 8: Coach Paul reacts to Sporting Lagos’ goalless draw against Enyimba

Sporting Lagos F.C. Coach has heaped praises on Enyimba international after playing against them at the Naija Super 8 tournament.

Sporting Lagos F.C. coach, Paul Offor, has heaped praises on Enyimba International after his side drew with the NPFL Champions, Soccernet.ng reports.

The coach, who led his side to the Nigerian top-flight league, just a year and forty days after they were founded, was on the sidelines to push his team towards victory against two-time CAF Champions League winners, Enyimba International and could’ve won the game later on in the second half, but penalty expert, John Noble ensured Enyimba’s tiny hopes of qualification stayed put.

Sporting had the support of their fans, who made deafening noises from start to finish to ensure their team stayed motivated till the very end. At the start of the game, it was quite clear who the champions were, and who the newly promoted side were, as Sporting could barely string a series of passes together, as Enyimba’s press was tough to beat, but they grew into the game.

Both sides had chances to score, but couldn’t find the finishing touches to apply, but the biggest chance of the game came in the seventy-sixth minute when Rivio Anyemwenre dazzled past Enyimba’s Chigozie Chilekwu and was hacked down to give Sporting what would have been a dream lead, only for new signing, Zulkifilu Rabiu to place his penalty to the right side of the goal for man of the match, John Noble to save.

Coach Offor, speaking on the proceedings of the match to Soccernet.ng, said;

“We have respect for Enyimba for all they have achieved in Nigerian football. We know the quality of the coaches and the players they have and to be able to have this kind of performance against them is something special for us and it motivates us going forward.”

Speaking on Rabiu’s penalty miss, the coach said;

“I have no regrets. Just score the penalty and we win. We had a lot of one-on-one situations, we couldn’t find our attacking midfielders in the half-spaces and it made the game a bit harder for us.”

When quizzed about if his team is ready for the NPFL after such a brilliant display, the coach mentioned they’re not quite there yet.

“I can’t tell you we’re ready right now. We cannot get carried away by this performance. We still need to do a deeper assessment of our squad to see where we can strengthen our team so we can stay in the NPFL.”

Sporting Lagos will play Remo Stars in the local South-West derby on Tuesday.