Rivers United suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Wikki Tourist at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi during their Nigeria Professional Football League match day 32 on Sunday.

After a strong start from the Pride of Rivers, a slip in focus allowed the hosts to score the match winner on 13 minutes through Manu Garba’s brilliantly struck effort.

The Port Harcourt team attempted to claw their way back into the game, with Chijioke Akuneto, Nyima Nwagua, and Paul Acquah causing all kinds of problems for the Tourists up front.

Morice Chukwu missed his chance twice in short succession for Rivers United in the second half, before substitute Malachi Ohawume’s incisive shot drifted just past of the far post.

#NPFL22 FT SCORES

Heartland 1-0 Akwa Utd
Abia Warriors 2-0 Rangers
Tornadoes 2-1 Enyimba
Kwara Utd 2-0 Katsina Utd
MFM 0-0 Lobi
Remo Stars 1-0 Gombe Utd
Dakkada 2-0 3SC
Plateau Utd 1-0 Kano Pillars
Wikki 1-0 Rivers United
Sunshine Stars 2-1 Nasarawa Utd

— League Management NG (@LMCNPFL) June 5, 2022

Coach Stanley Eguma changed his system to introduce Konan Ruffin and Solomon Okuruket, as they kept pushing in search of an equaliser.

In the 58th minute, the home crowd thought they had extended their lead, but Denis Ndasi’s superb defending kept the score at 1-0.

With a low driven effort from Joseph Onoja and Solomon Okuruket, followed by a breathtaking Morice Chukwu strike from distance, the league leaders were near to securing a share of the spoils late on, but the league leaders were denied the opportunity to find a way past Galadima to claim a share of the spoils.

Rivers United’s ten-point lead at the top of the NPFL after 32 games has been cut to just seven points over second-placed Plateau United.

Rivers United will now focus on the Rivers State AITEO Cup, where they will meet Khana FC in the 2nd Semi Final on Thursday, June 9th, 2022, before hosting Abia Warriors in an NPFL matchday 33 home match the following weekend.

Not the result we wanted from Bauchi but we have our eyes on the ball.

We’ll finish well.#RiversUnited #npfl22 pic.twitter.com/UKYqvUaZg6

— Onoja Joseph (@onojajo) June 6, 2022

𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙!