Coach of Rivers United Stanley Eguma admitted the team has fallen short of their seasons expectations just half-way through the campaign.
Last year, the team finished second in their debut season in the Nigeria Professional Football League but have found combining both domestic and continental engagements a tough task.
Following Wednesday's home win against newly promoted Remo Stars at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Port Harcourt, the coach gave a brief assessment of his teams mid-season performance.
"I think we have not performed to our expectation," began the experienced coach. "It's a game of football. Sometimes you do your mathematics and it might not work out but I don't think it is bad yet. We are still on it.
"We just played the first round of the league and we could use this as a lesson to strengthen the team in the second round." Eguma concluded.
Rivers United failed to pick up a single away win and will need to step it up if they want to avoid an embarrassing relegation fight at the end of the season.