Rivers United head coach Finidi George has expressed disappointment over his side’s performance as they failed to pick up maximum points against Abia Warriors on Sunday, SportPremi reports.
The Pride of Rivers were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw at the Umuahia Township Stadium on Sunday evening, in a match-day 16 clash in the 2025-26 English Premier League season.
It was their fifth draw of the season, extending their unbeaten run to seven matches in the league, although they suffered defeats in both of their Champions League matches.
The former NPFL champions were defeated 3-0 by defending champions Pyramids in their 2025-26 CAF Champions League opener last month.
They suffered another agonizing loss to Moroccan side RS Berkane in their second encounter, which leaves them without a win from their opening two matches in the continent.
Despite taking a 1-0 lead into stoppage-time, Finidi’s men conceded twice in added time as they suffered a 2-1 loss.
Rivers United held by Abia Warriors
Both sides headed into the clash hoping to close the gap on Ikorodu City in first position on the league standings.
The home side had won both of their last two meetings at home between both sides and were hoping to make it three in a row.
Both sides traded chances to take the lead in the game, which took until the final few minutes to come into life.
The visitors took the lead late on in the match as Maclyn Biokpo scored to put them one-goal up in the 89th minute and on the way to victory.
However, Abia Warriors hit back almost immediately with a stoppage-time equalizer through Suraj Lawal as both sides shared the spoils.
Abia Warriors remained in fifth spot on the standings with 24 points, while Rivers United are third on 27 points, just a single point behind Ikorodu City in first place.
Finidi rues Rivers United’s missed chance to go top
Rivers United could have moved to the summit of the standings with a rare win away at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
However, they were held to a draw with head coach Finidi George unhappy with the missed opportunity by his side.
“It’s just concentration, we need to get the players stronger mentally to be able to manage games when the match is almost over,” Finidi said after the match.
“It’s not a physical thing about managing games, it’s just unfortunate how the goal was conceded.
“We came to Umuahia not to lose or maybe the players were not even sure if we can get a victory from this game but overall its a sad one.”
Rivers United will resume league action when they face Plateau United in another crucial away encounter on Wednesday.
