Akwa United Coach Muhammed Baba Ganaru pleased with away draw against Lobi Stars

Akwa United head coach Muhammed Baba Ganaru has expressed his satisfaction after his team secured a valuable point on the road in their opening game of the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season.

The Promise Keepers held Lobi Stars to a goalless draw at the Lafia City Stadium, a result that Baba Ganaru feels reflects his team’s strong performance, despite the missed opportunity for a win.

Speaking to reporters after the match, the coach said, “We are grateful to God for the one point we have gotten here in Lafia, but to be sincere, we came here with a match plan to get all three points, just like we did last season, but it wasn’t to be.”

Both teams created numerous scoring chances, but neither could find the back of the net. Baba Ganaru remained positive about Akwa United’s performance, noting, “In my general assessment, both teams played very well and created lots of scoring chances, but at the end of the day, no goal to show for it. The positives from this game are that we played well. If we didn’t play well, we wouldn’t have created those chances in the first place.”

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The coach, however, expressed some disappointment in the missed chances, particularly a one-on-one opportunity in the dying moments of the match. “I’m not very happy because in the last moments of the game, we had a one-on-one chance but [Uche] Mare didn’t score, and that would have been the difference.”

Baba Ganaru believes the anxiety of playing the first match of the season may have affected his players’ composure in front of goal, but he is confident they will improve. “My players need to be more composed in front of goal, and we will continue to work on our scoring abilities and also improve the confidence level of the players,” he added.

Akwa United will look to build on this result as they prepare for their next fixture in the NPFL season.