27th February, 2012
Assistant coach of Dolphins Football Club of Port Harcourt, Zachary Baraje, says his team lost the derby against their city rivals, Sharks, because they played the game with the absence of ‘several key players who missed the match because of injury.’
“We lost because we missed the services of at least five of our key players because of injury,” Baraje told SuperSport.com.
Last Saturday, Sharks defeated Port Harcourt city rivals Dolphin 3-1 in ‘The Garden City Derby’ at Sharks Stadium.
Sharks made their intentions known early enough in the game, when ex-youth international, Bright Ejike, struck in the 13th minute.
As Dolphins fought back for an equaliser, Kola Anubi made it two in the 35th minute.
Former JUTH FC mercurial midfielder, Hassan Hussein, reduced the deficit when he found the back of the net in the 52nd minute, but ThankGod Ameafule took the game beyond Dolphins with an 89th minute strike to make it 3-1.
Hussein, who scored Dolphins’ goal, said it was a keenly contested game and insisted his club will bounce back from this setback.
“It was a good game and it lived up to its billing as one of the most-talked about derby in Nigeria. We gave a good account of ourselves even though the scoreline did not reflect the actual game itself because they did not out play us, but that is football,” he told MTNFootball.com
This is Dolphins’ third loss of the season in the Nigeria Premier League, NPL, this term, while Sharks’ victory over the champions represents their third win of the season.