They can't stop scoring — Super Eagles legend Finidi's United are suddenly dangerous in the NPFL

Rivers United sit alone at the summit of the NPFL with 52 points tonight and for the first time this season, they look every bit like champions in waiting.

A 3–1 victory over Bendel Insurance at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium on Sunday completed a remarkable four-day stretch in which Finidi George's side have scored six goals across two matches, silencing questions about their attacking potency with the most emphatic answer available: goals, goals and more goals.

Not long ago, Finidi himself admitted he "couldn't believe" how wasteful his side had been in front of goal. That feels like a lifetime ago. The Pride of Rivers are firing, and right now, the rest of the NPFL would do well to take notice.

The first half at Adokiye Amiesimaka told the story of a game waiting to happen. Rivers United probed, Bendel Insurance held their shape, and chances were scarce.

The Benin Arsenal arrived in Port Harcourt with a clear defensive plan and executed it competently enough in the opening period, denying their hosts the early breakthrough that would have made the afternoon simple.

At half-time, the scoreline remained blank, but there was a sense inside the Stadium that Rivers had simply been warming up.

Finidi's tactical adjustments at the break proved decisive, and within minutes of the restart, the floodgates opened.

Chijioke Mbaoma broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute with a powerful header, rising highest to meet a pinpoint corner delivery from Iyowuna Douglas.

It was the goal of a striker who has finally found his scoring boots and no one deserves credit for that more than the man who coached him previously at Enyimba. Mbaoma and Finidi, reunited, are becoming a quietly devastating combination.

The second goal, arriving in the 81st minute, was the one that best captured the football Finidi has been promising all season.

Wisdom Samuel finished off a well-worked team move, fluid, purposeful, free-flowing to double the lead and seemingly put the match to bed. The Adokiye roared.

Then, as football so often demands, a moment of complacency. Bendel Insurance pulled one back to make it 2–1, injecting a spike of late anxiety into what should have been a comfortable close.

But Rivers found their resolve. Samson Obi restored the two-goal cushion in stoppage time, finishing with the kind of calm authority that defines teams who believe in themselves. Three–one. The points were never really in doubt, but it felt good to make it official.

The late consolation goal will sting Finidi slightly, not because it threatened the result, but because it revealed a recurring pattern of switching off when the game is won.

Against stronger opponents, that lapse could prove costly. If Rivers United are serious about retaining the NPFL title and making noise on the continent, learning to kill games cleanly will be just as important as learning to score freely. The attacking switch has been flipped.

Sunday's win did not arrive in isolation. Four days earlier, Rivers United sent a statement through the entire NPFL by dismantling Katsina United at home.

It was that result, clinical, controlled, authoritative, that allowed them to leapfrog Enugu Rangers and reclaim top spot in the standings.

Wisdom Samuel was the architect of that demolition, opening the scoring in the 10th minute to settle early nerves before wrapping up the win with a second goal deep in stoppage time.

In between, Mbaoma converted a penalty in the 72nd minute, continuing the purple patch that has made him one of the most reliable forwards in the division. Six goals across two games. The same two names on the scoresheet both times. A partnership is forming.

Six in four days, from a partnership between a striker he knows intimately, Mbaoma, his old Enyimba charge and a forward in Wisdom Samuel who is making the most of consistent selection.

Finidi has not just unlocked his attack. He just may have reminded Nigerian football what a properly coached, properly motivated Rivers United looks like.

Rivers United head into the week as NPFL leaders on 52 points, their grip on top spot strengthened by Sunday's result.

Behind them, Enugu Rangers sit comfortably in second place following their own emphatic showing against Remo Stars, meaning the race at the top is intensifying, not relaxing.

Bendel Insurance, meanwhile, leave Port Harcourt empty-handed but not out of the picture, their top-four ambitions intact despite the defeat. The Benin Arsenal have enough quality to recover. Sunday, though, belongs entirely to the Pride of Rivers.