Kano Pillars Football Club were held to a goalless draw on Sunday by visiting Rivers United in their opening game of the 2019/2020 Nigeria Professional Football League match (NPFL).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the match was played under closed doors at the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano.
The encounter was one of the three matches to be played under closed doors to serve as a punishment for Kano Pillars fans’ pitch invasion at the Super Six encounter with Enugu Rangers in Lagos.
NAN reports that the match witnessed total compliance with the sanction.
Journalists and match officials were properly screened by security agents before going into the stadium.
Pillars, who were dominant all through the duration of the match, lacked the cutting edge on the final third.
Nyima Nwagua and Auwalu Ali both added their names to the list of those who missed scoring opportunities when they hit their shots over the bar in the seventh and 50th minutes of the match.
Rivers United backline defended tenaciously to deny efforts by the home team to score in the second half of the encounter.
Pillars coach, Ibrahim Musa, in a post match interview, said that he would work on the team’s finishing because they wasted a lot of goal scoring opportunities.
He, however, hailed his players for their fighting spirit.
Rivers United handler, Stanley Eguma, said that both teams played well.
Eguma, who said that his team was capable of wining the league this season, added that the team would go home and prepare to face Heartland FC of Owerri in their next match.
“We are going to prepare for our next-door neighbours because I know the game will be tough,” Eguma said. (NAN)
