They thought it was going to be easy, but it turned out tough. Rivers United.
But by the skin of their teeth Rivers United escaped to victory in their second leg match against Burkina Faso’s Etoile Filante.
The 2-0 win tells just a little of the story. They defied the odds of desertion by their ardent fans and struck when most did not expect.
After missing two penalty kicks 15 minutes to regulation time, it was thought that it was finished for Rivers United as a penalty kick shootout was looming as aggregate scorelines over two legs still stood at 0-0.
Sad memories of their last season’s encounter with Tanzania’s Young Africans started flooding.
The stadium started getting empty. They, the unexpected happened.
With just a minute left, Alex Oyowah scored. Nine minutes into added time, Oyowah made it a brace as he converted from the spot to give Rivers United a 2-0 win.