Niger Tornadoes head coach, Majin Mohammed, has defended his side’s 1-1 outing with Lobi Stars in Sunday’s Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) match and believes it was a better option to share points rather than lose.
Majin’s men have now failed to win any of their home matches since returning to their Bako Kontagora Stadium ground, drawing against Nasarawa United (0-0), Bendel Insurance (1-1) and Lobi Stars.
The Tornadoes trainer explained that his team failed to take their chances after slipping behind early in the second half to Ossy Martins’ goal and were just seconds to suffering a first home defeat to Daniel Amokachi’s side.
“A point is better than none like I’ve always said. This is because Lobi Stars are parading experienced players in the team despite their struggling start. We played very well especially in the first half, and we had our chances but we couldn’t convert them.
“At this point I am short of words about that, because we held training sessions on goalscoring but translating into match situations has always been the problem, but we will continue to work until we get it right, especially at home,” he said.
Majin is however worried that they have found it difficult to win at home as their two victories this season has interesting come from matches on the road at Kwara United and Plateau United.
He has assured that the club fans should give the team time as they will begin to win games at home.
“Of course I’m disturbed, as a human being, I have to say. You cannot be playing at your home with a capacity crowd always coming to cheer you, looking for victory. Football is all about winning, no matter how well you play the end always justifies the means. I want to appeal to the fans to keep calm, we continue to do our work until we get it right,” he said.
Niger Tornadoes were tipped to win against Lobi Stars but after a goalless first half which they dominated, they fell by a goal after Ahmadu Liman set up Martins to score for Lobi Stars on 61 minutes.
Mohammed Hussaini nearly drew Tornadoes level afterwards but his free kick was kept out by Lobi goalkeeper Daniel Atsaka.
It was substitute Emmanuel Olawale who scored at the death to help Tornadoes claim a point.
Majin and his men will now turn their focus to the midweek match against Enyimba in Aba.