Kwara United got their first win in the NPFL when they beat Sharks 1-0 at the Sharks Stadium on Sunday.

The Afonja Warriors arrived in Port Harcourt having been held to two straight draws by city rivals ABS and Sunshine Stars in their earlier games, but they did enough to defeat a Sharks side lacking in conviction.

Predictably, Sharks buzzed around in the early minutes trying to utilise the advantage of playing at home, with Fredrick Obomate stroking the ball around in midfield.

However, the Sharks attacking duo of Hilary Chukwu and Junior Osagie did not show much desire and purpose in the opposing box, and generally the hosts found the Ganiyu Ogungbe-led defence a hard nut to crack.

It was the visitors that created the first opportunity of the match in the 12th minute when Nojeem Olukokun's shot was parried for a corner by Uche Jonah, after some brilliant work by Samuel Adegbenro and Fuad Ekelejuoti.

Both teams then went at each other for long periods, but without any hint of a goal until the 39th minute when Chiamaka Madu fired wide, when it would have been easier to put the hosts ahead.

Kwara United seemed to grow in confidence as the match progressed and Olukokun's persistence in running at Sharks defence paid off on 55 minutes when he shrugged off Ifeanyi Esobe to shoot past Jonah.

Sharks did their best to come back into the game, but Kwara United were able to withstand the pressure and even launch some dangerous counter-attacks.

Sharks technical adviser Augustine Eguavoen blamed the defeat on lapse of concentration and promised there would be an improvement in his team's performance in subsequent matches.

"I've been away for two weeks, so I'll put this defeat down to lack of concentration," he told supersport.com.

"I don’t want to criticise anybody and I know I have a lot of work to do to redeem my image, but I believe we still have enough quality in the side to make progress."

Despite turning in a fine performance to win at one of the toughest away venues in the NPFL, Kwara United boss, Samson Unuanel slipped away early from the stadium and could not be reached for his views on the match.