Rivers United Coach, Stanley Eguma said he is pleased with his men in their 1-0 victory over Tunisian side, Club Africain on Sunday, December 10, 2023, at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo.

The Rivers-born gaffer attributed the team’s success to the players being able to keep their heads down and adhere to instructions.

Nyima Nwagua’s first half goal was enough to see the Pride of Rivers grab a very important win against a tough side, Club Africain who are arguably their toughest opponent in the group.

“It was a good and highly technical game. I give kudos to my players for keeping up with their tactical discipline in this game. Club Africain is a good team, there’s no doubt as they played with a lot of tactics.”

“All our tactical plans worked because the players were able to keep their heads down and adhere to instructions.

“Our opponents were very fast with the ball, and we tried to calm them down to cool the tempo of the game to our own pace. We dictated the tempo of the game until the later part of the first half when we got the goal.

“In the second half, we knew that they were almost getting tired, so we tried to keep possession but we discovered that they were now using long through balls transitions. That was where we had problems trying to curtail them. My players held their heads and did that perfectly until we got to the end of the game.

“We have very strong teams in the group. Today, we’ve picked three points but it’s not yet time for celebration because we have other games to play. We’ll go back to Tunis, to ensure we keep a clean slate and then, face other challenges after now.”

Eguma’s men were able to hold their one-goal lead throughout the second half but the gaffer insisted that they did not just sit back and defend, adding that they could have added more goals to the tally.

” There’s no time we played a defensive game. It’s just that, when our opponents start their move, we develop our own countermove. We were not defensive because our players hit the woodwork two or three times.

“We were attacking and could’ve scored up to three, or four goals today but were unlucky. Most of our balls hit the bar so, it was part of our tactical plans.”

Coach Eguma pointed out that the home win against the Tunisian side has raised the psyche of the players.

“It’s a big win that has raised the psyche of the players. It’s going to do a lot for us because we’ve beaten one of Tunisia’s top teams.”

Rivers United are the third Nigerian club after BCC Lions in 1990 and Enyimba FC in 2008 to defeat Club Africain on the continent.

Rivers United are now top of Group C after three round of matches and will confront Club Africain away from home in Tunisia on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, and will have to give it their absolute best to grab a victory.