Akwa United unlucky in defeat to Rangers — Abdullahi

Akwa United caretaker coach, Umar Abdullahi has described his side’s defeat to Rangers as unfortunate.

The Promised Keepers went down to a 1-0 defeat against their hosts at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu on Sunday.

Kazeem Ogunleye scored the winning goal for Rangers three minutes after the break.

Abdullahi said his team deserved more from the game following what he termed a ‘brilliant performance”.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get anything out of this match. The boys gave their all and their level of commitment and determination was encouraging,” he told the club’s media.

“We played against a very tough team and I’m impressed that we were able to express ourselves and created good scoring chances but the only challenge we had was that we couldn’t score and we also missed a penalty that could have given us at least a point.

“Despite the fact that we didn’t score in Enugu, I’m happy with the quality of players in the team, especially in the attacking department. We have taken lots of positives from this match and I want to assure all our fans that we will make them proud in subsequent matches.”

Akwa United are without a win in 10 away matches this season.

The former champions remain in 16th position on the table with 21 points from 20 games.

The Uyo club will face Bayelsa United in their next league game at the Eket Township Stadium.