After playing a barren draw away to old-time foes, Mighty Jets of Jos in match day Two last weekend, Wikki Tourists FC on Sunday, played out a one-all draw with visiting Elkanemi Warriors FC of Maiduguri.
It was on match day three of the ongoing Nigeria National League (NNL) 2023/24 season, played at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Memorial Stadium in Bauchi.
Bello Usman of the visiting Elkanemi Warriors FC opened scores eight minutes into the match, sending the stadium into a long silence.
However, five minutes later, John Taiwo, rekindled the hope of supporters of Wikki Tourists when he equalised the goal from an assist by Owolabi Aremu to restore parity.
It was a tug of war as both teams bombarded each other for another goal but to no avail till the end of the first half.
On resumption into the second half, the Wikki Tourists technical crew made some tactical substitutions to strengthen the team but the visitor’s defence became watertight.
However, several attempts were made by Wikki Tourists players on Elkanemi Warriors but did not yield the needed result as the visitors resorted to delay tactics suggesting that they were comfortable with the draw as the referee signalled the end of the game after the expiration of the six minutes added time.
In his post-match reaction to the result, Wikki Tourists FC Coach, Bashir Saleh said that “actually that was not what we planned for and having a draw at home is not good for our campaign.”
He, however, expressed optimism saying, “but Insha Allah, we are going to make necessary adjustments based on what we have seen today so that in our next away game to Yobe Desert Stars, we can get better results.”
Saleh attributed part of the problem that affected the performances of his boys to the harsh weather conditions which he said did not favour them because their games and rainings were always played by late evening.
The coach, however, commended his boys for their endurance and also thanked the supporters for their understanding and solicited for more as he said they would strive to make amend.
After playing three matches, Wikki Tourists have now garnered 5 points, +6 goals and 1 goal against.
The Bauchi giant Elephants will be travelling to Gashua for the next match against Yobe Desert Stars on Saturday, match day 4 of the NNL 23/24 season.
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