Rivers United coach Stanley Eguma has blamed center referee Kelechi Isinwa for his side’s scoreless draw with Kwara United on Match Day 7 of the ongoing Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season.

Eguma claimed the referee denied United a ‘deserved’ penalty when midfielder Esor Nelson was brought down in the box with five minutes before the end of the match, a decision that ensured the tie ended in a stalemate.

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t win this game,” Eguma said after the match. “We actually planned to win this game but unfortunately, we couldn’t win it.

“At least, if the referee had given us the penalty that we got, we should have won the match.

“To me, I felt it was a penalty, but he is the referee; he is the one in charge of the match. But I think if he had given us the penalty, we would have won.

“We deserve that penalty through pressure that was on Kwara United.”

In spite of the unawarded penalty, Eguma thinks his boys were equally in a hurry to score which ensured they failed to convert their chances.

“They (Rivers United) were too much in a hurry to get the goal. We failed to cool down the ball and then, plan for the goal. They were too much in a haste, that’s why they missed most of the chances that we got,” he said.

“We got series of chances; close chances, but we couldn’t convert them because my players were too much in a hurry to score, and that cost us the match.”

The draw moved Rivers United to second place in Group A of the abridged NPFL season with 9 points from 6 matches, 3 points behind leaders, MFM FC.