Despite a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Kwara United on matchday 33 of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Remo Stars Coach Daniel Ogumodede remains resolute in his team’s title chase.
Wasiu Alalade’s early goal and Isaiah Ejeh’s strike just before halftime put Kwara United in control. Although Remo Stars fought back with goals from Mawuena Frank and Ojo Dayo, it was too little, too late.
In an interview with journalists at the team’s hotel on Sunday night, Ogumodede praised his team’s fighting spirit and vowed to keep pushing for the title. “We will not give up. We will keep fighting to the end. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we’ll learn from our mistakes and come back stronger.”
“The only disappointment is that we were unable to get the maximum three points. We planned for the win, but unfortunately, we couldn’t get our desired results. That is the only disappointment. I understand there is no excuse for failure; if not, I would have been talking about the abrupt break we had for a month, so you expect a team to come back and give it their best – it’s impossible. But nevertheless, it was a good fight. Kwara United took advantage of their early goal; you know this is a team who had the luck of playing about two matches during the holidays, which tells of their match fitness, and the early goal gave them a lot of confidence. We were struggling; they took advantage again and scored their second goal before the whistle sounded for the second half. We came in the second half and fought hard; we were unlucky and scored an own goal. We wanted to be champions, and we know what it means to be champions – as champions, you don’t give up, so we fought, we got two consolidating goals, but it wasn’t enough.”
“We were aware of what we were coming to meet in this match today. Kwara United are on the verge of relegation; we know how important the match is for them, as much as it is also important for us. To them, they don’t want to sink; they need to fight for their life, which they did. For us, we felt we needed to get the maximum three points to be close on the table for our title chase, but unfortunately, one has to win; they got the day and escaped relegation. We need to go back to see the game again, to see our mistakes, our time of complacency, not giving enough to close up on the leaders as champions that we are, and I know that the remaining fifteen points are important for us – every point at this time is important.”
On the absence of Jide Fatokun, he said, “Jide is a vital player for us, but those who played also did well; they lived up to expectations – I salute their courage to do what they did today. Jide, for us, is an important player, but I don’t build my team around a singular player. It’s a team work; it’s meant for the group and for an individual.”
Remo Stars are third on the log, level on 56 points with Enyimba, and four points behind leaders Rangers International. With 15 points left to play for.
