Rivers United captain, Festus Austin, has urged his teammates not to be carried away as they look forward to winning the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) title for the first time.
This is contained in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Tuesday by the club’s Media Officer, Sammy Wejinya.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that United is currently on top of the NPFL table with three matches remaining.
Austin said that it would be premature for the team to start singing victory songs with three potentially difficult fixtures to overcome.
“Nobody should even start thinking of celebrating because it is too early for that kind of thing.
“If you take a closer look at the NPFL table, you will realise that there are four or even five clubs that are capable of winning the title.
“At this stage of the season, calm heads, disciplined individuals and consistent levels of hard work are required,” he said.
The captain reminded his colleagues that a defeat in Bauchi, where they would take on Wikki Tourist on Sunday, could sound the death knell on their title aspiration.
“We have not been getting good results on the road in recent matches.
“It is not like we played badly in all those matches but the truth is, football is a game decided by goals and I will not use this medium to make excuses.
“The fans want us to start performing from this Sunday’s game against Wikki and that is what we will try to do against one of the best sides in the league,” he said.
Austin said that he would be happier if his side could “pull the chestnut out of fire” by claiming “unlikely” points at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi.