Aiteo Cup: Abia Warriors Bow Out Despite Beating Rivers united

NFF/AITEO CUP 2018: ABIA WARRIORS BOW OUT.... Despite beating Rivers Utd Abia Warriors football Club of Umuahia is out of the *AITEO CUP* competition despite defeating regional rivals, Rivers United of Port Harcourt 1-0 in their last group 'C' encounter decided at the Legacy Pitch of the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos. With the victory, the Warriors finished with six points from three games, same as Kwara United and Kano Pillars who advanced to the quarter finals because of superior goal difference. After suffering a heavy defeat in the hands of Kwara United in their opening game, the Warriors bounced back by defeating Kano Pillars but football aficionados knew that goal difference would eventually decide who progressed and in this regard, the Warriors were not favoured. Initially, there was joy in the Warriors bench at the Legacy Pitch when news filtered in that Pillars and Kwara United were locked at 1-1 at the Agege Township Stadium and with the Warriors leading Rivers United 1-0 courtesy of Shedrack Asiegbu's right foot strike, but the boys found themselves in a state of sombre shortly after when they learnt that Pillars had netted late on to beat Kwara United 2-1 to ensure that every team in the Lagos centre lost at least a game in line with the "group of death" tag of the zone made up of only Premier League sides although Rivers United became the weeping boys losing all their three games. In his reaction, Abia Warriors Head Coach, Emmanuel Deutcsh said it was unfortunate the team could not go beyond the group stage of the competition but stated that he was proud of his boys for fighting back to win two matches after losing their first one and lamented that the two red cards in their first game against Kwara United was key to the final classifications in the group.