Against the run of play, Nasarawa United suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of visiting Kano Pillars on Wednesday evening at the Lafia City Stadium.
The home team kick-started their second stanza of the 2025/26 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) campaign behind closed doors following renovation works at some portions of the stadium, with high expectations of overturning their 3-0 away loss to the same opposition a fortnight ago in Kano.
Despite dominating possession throughout the encounter, the Solid Miners failed to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities, with Umar Ada, Anas Yusuf, and Jofrank Istifanus each squandering glaring chances, which would ultimately give Chiedozie Okorie the luxury of space to score the decisive goal for Kano Pillars in the fiercely contested affair.
Wednesday’s loss, which is the first at home this season for the hosts, sees the Solid Miners drop to fifth position on the league table with 32 points, ten more points ahead of Pillars who are in 18th place, a development coach Mbwas Mangut described as a bitter pill to swallow as he expressed his disappointment.
Mangut believes his side deserved to take something out of the game for their superior performance but accepts dominating a game without precision in front of goal is “not just enough.”
”We were the better side today, but sometimes, that’s not just enough.
”We created chances, especially in the first-half, but we couldn’t finish them off, and they capitalized on the slip from our defender to score the goal that separated both sides.
”In fact, today’s defeat comes with a lot of pain because it’s the first time we are losing at home since the beginning of this season.
”We thought we could get a push up the ladder today, but it was rather a setback. However, the league is yet to be over. We will regroup and come back stronger in our next game, as I expect a different result.
”We acquired some new players and they are blending fast with the established players already.”
Nasarawa United will now focus on their next game against Niger Tornadoes this Sunday at the Lafia City Stadium.