Kwara United’s continental ambition was dent a huge blow after being held to a 1-1 draw by Abia Warriors in the Matchday 24 of the Nigeria Professional Football League played at the Kwara State Complex Stadium Ilorin on Wednesday evening extending their winless run to four games.
The Harmony Boys last victory came on the resumption of the second stanza of the NPFL22 season when Kwara United came from a goal down to beat visiting Remo Stars 2-1 in Ilorin thanks to goals from Stephen Jude and Samad Kadiri.
Kwara United setback began in Uyo the Akwa Ibom state capital where they suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Dakkada International which was followed with a 1-1 draw at home to Plateau United, next was a 1-1 draw away at Wikki Tourists and then the draw on Wednesday against Abia Warriors.
A cagy affair it was on the day with the visitors enjoying the large share of possession in the first half but it was the host who went ahead with just few seconds remaining as Tiza Samuel capitalized on some sloppy defending to chip the ball over the on rushing Vincent Edafe in goal for the Warriors tho he had his finger tip on the ball but it lacked power to direct the ball away from goal, 1-0 it was for Kwara United at the break.
Valentine Odoh drew the away side level on the five minutes into the second half following a beautiful build up play from the Imama Amapakabo side which the Kwara United defense had no answer to.
Abia Warriors frustrated Kwara United who where poised to winning in other to brighten their chance of picking the continental slot as they went toe to toe, man to man meanwhile Samad Kadiri was gifted with a glorious chance to seal the win at the death after a beautiful interchange of passes opened up the Abia Warriors defense with the former Enyimba man left with just the goal to tap in, but he decided to balloon his strike over the face of goal inflicting pains on the supporters who left disappointed after it ended 1-1 on the evening.
Kwara United Technical adviser coach Abdullahi Biffo in a post match interview reacting after the match stated that it a very difficult period that they’re in at the moment, he however opined that they will source for motivation from their first round performance.
“Yes it a difficult period for us knowing fully well that our last game at home we shared point, another points shared here today if you look at where we are now on the log you will see that teams behind us are now catching up with us, we just have to go back to the drawing board and pick some motivation from what we did in the first round and see how we improve from here”, he said.
The gaffer meanwhile refused to rule out the possibility of picking the continental ticket as he believed they are on course to achieving their major target of the season admitting that with extra effort put in the remaining games they will be able to achieve their target.
“Yes we are still on course for our continental pursuit and we will achieve it, you can attest to the fact that this is the most difficult period of the season, teams that who want to survive will give everything to achieve it like you see Abia Warriors did here today, teams that want to move up has to put something extra to make sure they maintain their position and that is what we lack in Kwara United right now, we need to put in extra effort to make sure we bring down those in front of us but unfortunately for us today we allowed ourselves to remain stagnant”, He concluded.
Kwara United next home game will be against league leaders Rivers United just after their trip to Enugu where they will take on Rangers International this weekend.