Striker Abubakar Lawal’s late strike was enough to earn Nasarawa United Football Club a 2-2 draw and rescue them from a home defeat against Go Round Football Club on Monday.
In the match, a 2018/2019 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Match Day 21 Group B fixture, the watching massive crowd at the Lafia Township Stadium was well thrilled though.
TBI Africa said the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in spite of drawing goalless against Kano Pillars the last time at home, Nasarawa United again failed to rise to expectations.
They failed to inspire a convincing performance that would have secured them a win, thereby leaving in frustration the home fans.
The home side began sluggishly and were punished by Joshua Useni who pounced on a loose ball in the hosts’ penalty area to score and put the away side ahead.
After the half time break, Nasarawa United mounted pressure on the away side in a bid to equalise and duly got the equaliser in the 66th minute through Ibrahim Sanusi.
He received a pass from Lawal at the edge of the penalty area to then place the ball at the right hand corner of the Go Round FC net.
NAN reports that the home side pushed aggressively for a winner, but were punished by Go Round FC who made good use of a counter attack and scored through Nwogbaga Chiebonan in the 77th minute to lead again.
NAN reports that all efforts to draw level were thwarted by a resolute defence until the 95th minute when Lawal capitalised on a loose ball in the penalty area to blast home.
Speaking to newsmen after the match, Willie Udube, Technical Adviser of Go Round FC, said his boys played with fear throughout the encounter because the environment was hostile towards them.
“They were playing with fear. When you come to an environment without proper security, that is what happens.
“They are human beings. We are not supposed to be at this stage now. South African league was like this before but they had a rethink.
“We have dropped points at home and nothing happened. Nobody touched the referee or intimidated the opposition. That is the mentality we want everyone to have.
“We drew three matches and lost one. Nothing happened. So why not we replicate that mentality in other venues so that people will be happy to watch matches.
“But I thank God we got a good result here because I believe this is a push for the team to come out of the relegation zone.
“We will go back and adopt a new strategy that will get us better results,” Udube said.
NAN reports that the home team’s performance prompted some angry fans to demand the resignation of Isaac Danladi as Nasarawa United FC Chairman.
