Kano Pillars coach Ibrahim Musa says missed chances are responsible for his side’s 2-1 defeat to Rivers United in a Match Day 21 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clash in Port Harcourt on Sunday.

Goals from Konan N’guoan (from the penalty spot) and Cletus Emotan ensured Rabiu Ali’s well-taken freekick in injury time was rendered a mere consolation for Pillars as Stanley Eguma’s men moved to second spot on the standings with a hard-fought win.

After the match, Musa admitted that his team is now faced with a problem of converting their chances, adding that they will go back to the proverbial drawing board to correct the error.

“Now we have a problem,” Musa lamented, “Because the same problem we had against Rangers, we outplayed Rangers but we could not score. If you do not score, no matter how well you play, you are doing nothing.

“So, we need to improve our finishing. That’s the only problem we’re facing now. We have to go back to the drawing board to work on our finishing.

“Rivers United is a good team, but we created a lot of chances against them and failed to convert them. Luck was not on our side. We need to work hard if we want to go far.”

With the defeat to Rivers United – their third in four matches – the 4-time NPFL champions Pillars dropped to 10th on the NPFL log with 27 points from 20 matches, with a game in hand.