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Manager of Dolphins FC, Stanley Eguma, has come out to state that the
outcome of last weekend’s Port Harcourt derby between his side and
Sharks FC was not premeditated.

The encounter,
which ended 1-0 in favour of Sharks, was the most eagerly anticipated
game of the last round of matches of the Nigerian Premier League, and
was beamed live by sports channel SuperSport. In the first half of the
game played at the Sharks Stadium, both sides made a contest of it,
much to the delight of spectators at the venue, and appeared evenly
matched. The second half was however a different kettle of fish as
players of both sides, particularly those of Dolphins, literally went
to sleep right after Sharks shot into the lead shortly after the hour
mark through veteran forward Victor Ezeji.

Dolphins were more
than content to maintain the score line as it stood and this wasn’t
helped in any way when television cameras caught the team’s goalkeeper
Sunday Rotimi with a broad grin on his face, toying around with the
ball inside his penalty area. Eguma, however, insists that there was no
prior agreement between the two clubs jointly owned by the Rivers State
government. The Dolphins boss, who expressed disappointment with the
outcome of the game – his side’s first loss of the season – explained
that his players, for no apparent reason, fizzled out in the second
half. “We played very well and gave our all but in the second half my
boys fizzled out and that is where my disappointment comes from,” he
said. “It is a game we should have won but in football you win some and
lose some. If you watched the game, you would have seen the effort my
boys put in to score, especially in the first half. Maybe that was why
they ran out of gas towards the end of the game. This was a big match
watched all over Africa and the star match of the league and I wonder
how you can fix a game like that. It was a bad day at the office for my
boys and I will advise we stop these entire match fixing allegations.”

When the axe falls

Not only did the
defeat at the hands of Sharks end Dolphins’ perfect start to the
2010/2011 season, a start that has seen them winning all their games so
far and not letting in a goal, it also served as their first loss in
the league to their bitter city rivals in seven years. It was also the
first win of the season for a Sharks side which subsequently dragged
themselves away from the relegation zone. Last season, both sides were
involved in a controversial fixture that ended in a draw albeit only
after Dolphins’ goalkeeper Rotimi had saved a penalty awarded under
controversial circumstances deep into stoppage time in the second half.
The result, which was unfavourable to Sharks, as they were neck-deep in
relegation trouble back then, allegedly led to a slash in the salaries
and sign-on fees of three Dolphins players.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Nigeria Premier League, Davidson Owumi,
said that the league body will wait to receive the official report of
the Port Harcourt derby before deciding on what step to take. “We do
not want to see anything that will damage the integrity of the league,”
he said. “We are waiting for the official match report, and if it
indicates that there was any sign of foul play, we will not hesitate to
take action. The board is doing its best to sanitise the league and
present a product that will stand up to the highest possible scrutiny,
and it is unacceptable for clubs to try to compromise the integrity of
this competition.”