Aigbogun rues another home draw

Paul Aigbogun is not a happy man after watching his Enyimba side scrape to a 2-2 draw with Lobi Stars in Sunday’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), reports supersport.com.

The Nigerian champions needed a late goal from their captain, Chinedu Udoji, to save themselves the blushes of losing at home for the first time this season, and Aigbogun has expressed he is “not happy about the draw.”

Aigbogun went on to evade questions about problems his team are facing or whether he is under pressure as the Aba club find themselves holed in the bottom-three though they have four outstanding matches to play.

He also claimed that playing four matches in the space of 12 days have had a telling effect on his playing personnel.

“I am not happy about the draw. Honestly, I am not happy. Obviously, we want to win games whether home or away. That’s for me to decide (on what is wrong with my team).

“Of course (playing four matches in 12 days had effect on my team). We played in Tunisia on Wednesday (April 20) then played on Sunday (April 24) and played again on Wednesday (April 27), and played once more on Sunday (May 1).”

Aigbogun attributed some of the goals his team have conceded to fatigue, saying, “when you concede a goal it is a mistake anyway. The goals they (Lobi Stars) conceded are also mistakes anyway, but you have to look at the fact that some of these guys have played four games in about seven days. We have injuries in between competitions and it is not about changing people (the playing personnel). What people don’t understand is that not everybody can play in the continental team, and when we come back some guys are not ready, some are injured.”

Enyimba now have to navigate through another outstanding game against Kano Pillars at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano tomorrow and Aigbogun knows they cannot afford another slip up after back-to-back draws at home to Heartland and Lobi Stars.

“Obviously, we want to win every game (including that against Kano Pillars this Wednesday). We don’t go into any game without not wanting to win, but unfortunately we can’t win every game and we take it like that,” he remarked.

The Peoples Elephant are third from bottom in the Nigerian league standings with 14 points after 10 matches.