Sporting Lagos head coach Jeffery Buter says his side must become more clinical in front of goal after being held to a goalless draw by Ikorodu City in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
The stalemate came in a fiercely contested Lagos Derby at a fully packed Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, where Sporting Lagos created clear chances but could not find a way past Ikorodu City’s defence.
Buter acknowledged that failing to turn opportunities into goals remained an urgent issue for his team, although he insisted Sporting Lagos had been the better side and deserved to take all three points.
“We have to work, we have to work on finishing. I think on Monday and Tuesday we did a lot of finishing exercises. We know that we are not converting as much as we are creating, but it’s a non-stop work,” Jeffery said.
The coach’s concern came after another match in which Sporting Lagos produced enough opportunities to win but were ultimately left to settle for a point.
Buter explains Sporting Lagos approach
Buter also described how Ikorodu City’s pressing affected the way Sporting Lagos built their attacks during the derby.
“In the first phase, they were aggressive in their pressing. They committed early on, but we expected it,” he explained.
The Sporting Lagos coach said his team had prepared for that approach after studying Ikorodu City’s previous match against Rangers. He explained that the plan had been to exploit the space left behind their opponents when they pressed high.
“Seeing how they played their last game versus Rangers, the plan was always to exploit the spaces behind them. If you watch, we played a lot of long balls today, which is unusual for us, but it was about exploiting those spaces.”
The use of long passes represented a departure from Sporting Lagos’ usual style, but Buter said it was a deliberate response to the spaces created by Ikorodu City’s pressure.
Although he praised Ikorodu City for their disciplined defensive performance, Buter maintained that the overall balance of play favoured his team.
“I think, overall assessment for me, we were still the better team today. We should have won, the circumstances were neutral,” he concluded.