By ANDRE BISYIT
PLATEAU United Football Club of Jos suffered a historic 2-1 defeat against visiting Katsina United Football Club, who had not won an away match in the last four seasons.
The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Match Day 2 encounter was played at the New Zaria Road Stadium, Jos, on Sunday.
It will be recalled that Plateau United lost 1 -0 in their opening fixture against Wikki Tourist Football Club of Bauchi last weekend.
Facing Katsina United proved to be another tough challenge as the hosts struggled as though they were the away side. In the 11th minute, Sadiq Auwal of Katsina United opened the scoring, before Uche Collins doubled the lead in the 60th minute. Plateau United’s captain, Hilary Albert, pulled one back in the 70th minute, but the game eventually ended 2-1 in favour of the visitors.
Oluwasola Adegun, Technical Adviser of Plateau United, expressed disappointment with the outcome of the game, admitting that losing at this stage of the league was not encouraging.
“We are disappointed with the results and our performance. We’ve taken responsibility and accepted the blame, but we’ll work aggressively on the lapses to prevent a repeat of this. Step by step, we can get better and we’ll continue to work hard in achieving our target,” he said.
He lamented that his midfielders were not dominant in the match, which affected their ability to feed the attackers consistently.
“My midfielders weren’t supplying the ball consistently for the attackers to show their quality. So we have a lot to do in terms of building cohesion and trust among the players. Our captain, Hilary Albert, was injured in our last game but recovered during training. To be on the safer side, I started him from the bench,” he explained.
Adegun further appealed to the fans for patience, assuring them of a turnaround.
“Our fans have every right to be unhappy with our performance and the outcome of the game. We can only ask for patience and trust. We’ll do our best to change the narrative for good soon,” he assured.
On his part, Katsina United’s Technical Adviser, Azeez Mohammed, was elated with his side’s victory against what he described as a “big club” on their home ground.
“Plateau United is a very strong team. As you are aware, we lost our first game at home, so we came here well-prepared to win. I am happy with my boys for giving us what we wanted. We lost our first game because some of our players had not completed their registration, so we could not feature them. Most of them played today, and they were determined,” he explained.
Mohammed emphasised that his target for the season was to finish among the top four, stressing that today’s win would not make them lose focus.