Giwa Football Club of Jos last weekend, maintained its lead on top of the Nigerian National League (NNL) group A, after victory over city rivals, JUTH FC.
Giwa who were technically home in the encounter, defeated JUTH 1-0 at Rwang Pam Stadium in the week 21 match of NNL.
The victory took the “Plateau Elephants”, as they are fondly called, seven points clear on the log of the group with 40 points.
The only goal that made the difference, was scored by Kamaru Sikiru in the 44th minute from the spot, after a JUTH defender handled the ball in the penalty area.
Abdullahi Biffo, Chief Coach of Giwa, told newsmen after the match that the two teams gave a good account of themselves by playing good football.
“Local derbies are always tough like this. Both teams played well, we are lucky to carry the day,” he said.
Biffo stated that his side would not be carried away by the victory, which has had shored up their hopes of gaining promotion to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) next season.
“I told my boys not lose focus because it is not over yet. We still have many matches to play before the end of the season and anything can happen if we lose concentration,” he said.
Meanwhile JUTH coach Taye Yusuf, has blamed poor officiating for his side’s defeat and lamented that such officiating was `killing the country’s football’.
“Let us play the way Europe is doing. In Europe there is no home or away, the best team usually wins, but in our case, officials have made it a duty that the home team must win and that is not good for us.
“If you don’t officiate well, you won’t know a good coach neither will you know a good team,” he said.
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