Enyimba assistant coach Okechukwu Ejeh described Sunday’s 1-0 home loss to Inter Lagos as a “very bad day” for the club after the People’s Elephant suffered a third consecutive defeat in the 2026/2027 EUROMATCH–NPFL season.
Head coach Emmanuel Deutsch, who was born in Cameroon, did not attend the post-match media conference and sent Ejeh in his place.
Moses Ezekiel scored the only goal after 19 minutes, heading Inter Lagos in front before the visitors defended their advantage to condemn Enyimba to another defeat.
The result means Enyimba have taken no points from a possible nine, although they have a game in hand against 3SC. It is the first time in the club’s history that they have lost three successive league matches.
“Everybody is sad, honestly, it’s a sad day for everybody in the Enyimba family,” Ejeh said.
He argued that the result did not reflect the overall performance, but admitted his side had failed where it mattered most.
“We didn’t win. I think we didn’t really do badly in the game, like you all saw. Inter Lagos got their chance, I think, their only one chance in the game, and they converted it.
“But we got more than ten (10) chances in this game but we couldn’t convert any of them. That’s the game. When you fail to take your chances in a game, you end up getting punished. We really paid dearly for our wastefulness today.
“Creating chances in football is always difficult. But we did the most difficult one today but fell short of converting such chances.”
Ejeh agreed that the forwards’ failure to finish opportunities was the main difference between the sides. He also said the weather and pitch conditions had forced Enyimba to abandon their usual possession-based approach.
“That’s the major problem today. Our inability to convert chances. But I think the weather condition also affected our game plan. We’re a ball-possession team. We always try to hold the ball and build up from the back, but because of the condition of the pitch, we tried to change that plan and resorted to ‘flighting’ the ball, using long balls, which affected some of the players.
“But we really did well with that pattern, just that we weren’t good at getting the second balls. And I think it’s a learning curve for the team. We’ll go back to work and see how we can fix that.”
Enyimba, who are nine-time champions and two-time African champions, are 20th in the table after defeats by Niger Tornadoes (2-1), Doma United (2-0) and Inter Lagos (1-0).
They will host Sporting Lagos in Aba in Wednesday’s Matchday 5 fixture, with Ejeh confident the game can change the direction of their season.
“I think we’ll come back better on Wednesday against Sporting Lagos, believe you me. We’ll come back stronger. I’ll tell the boys to be calm.
“This team is good. I believe in this team. There is no pressure yet because the league is still young. It’s a marathon, and it is just starting. We’ve just played three games. We’ll do well against Sporting Lagos.
“I think that will be a turning point in our season. Let the fans come out and give us their usual support, and we’ll make them happy. I’m positive that we’ll walk away after the game with the maximum three points. That’s my message to the fans.”