Plateau United head coach Gbenga Ogunbote says his side’s improved tactical discipline after half-time was key to their 3-1 comeback victory over Shooting Stars of Ibadan on Sunday.
The visitors took the lead in the 15th minute when Abubakar Taheer finished to put Shooting Stars ahead.
Plateau United responded five minutes after the interval, with Jibril Ibrahimi restoring parity. Seiyefa Jackson then completed the turnaround in the 71st minute before Gideon Monday scored the third goal eight minutes from time.
Shooting Stars’ task became more difficult in the 84th minute when Gbolagade Adelowo was shown a straight red card. Plateau United capitalised almost immediately, adding their third goal just three minutes after the dismissal.
Ogunbote said his team had struggled to find the right approach during the opening half, particularly against a Shooting Stars defence that operated as a compact unit.
“No disrespect to them, forget about the scoreline, they are a good side,” he said during his post-match press conference.
“When you’re playing against a team that has played on the continent you should expect some quality in that team, which we actually saw.
“We were a little careless in the first half and not tactically disciplined. For a team that play a unit defence, they have three centre-backs, so all we need to do is what I told them in the second half.
“So you can only break the defence before you think of scoring.”
The Plateau United manager also acknowledged that his squad is still developing its understanding, with several new players yet to establish a strong on-field connection.
Ogunbote said the team included seven or eight new arrivals, meaning the players were still learning how to work together effectively.
“The synergy has not really come. If you look at the game, we had about seven or eight new players,” he added.
“But as the game goes, the understanding will be better and I can assure you that we have a team, but we are still trying to study ourselves so that we will have a perfect synergy.”
The result saw Plateau United recover from their early setback to secure all three goals against Shooting Stars, who had been unable to hold on to their advantage after half-time.