Abia Warriors head coach, Okey Emordi is looking forward to his side’s Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) opener against champions, Enugu Rangers.
The two sides go toe to toe at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, with Rangers already tagged as overwhelming favourites to amass maximum points at the expense of the Warriors on Sunday.
Emordi is not fazed by the challenge of pitting his wits against Imama Amapakabo’s Flying Antelopes at the ‘Cathedral of football’ and believes his charges are in fine fettle to positively assert themselves in the contest. “We are trying our best to bring the boys up to speed and that is why we have been playing tune-up matches. It is also aimed at getting the boys tuned to the competition because we have relatively new players. “The new boys have to be blended with the old players to get a formidable new team. I took the time to study the players during the tune-up games we played to enable me to make a decision,” he told supersport.com.
Abia Warriors escaped relegation by whiskers last season as they finished in 13th place with 48 points from 36 matches.
Meanwhile, Nasarawa United head coach, Kabir Dogo, has said his side will not disappoint against Wikki Tourists. The Solid Miners are guests of the Bauchi outfit in Sunday at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi.
Dogo said Wikki Tourists have always been hard nuts for the side to crack irrespective of the match grounds.
“I call the clash a northern derby with a difference as the rivalry between both sides has always been tough whether the match takes place in Bauchi or Lafia.
“Last season Wikki Tourists beat us in Bauchi while we were winners in the reverse fixture at adopted home in Makurdi.
“We are looking forward to another entertaining, explosive and wonderful match in Bauchi on Sunday.
“Wikki Tourists are a continental side so we will give them their due respect but not to the point of being scared of them. We have reached the business end of the league where results count. We are believing positively to come out of the battle smiling at the end of the day.”
“Everybody is ready and prepared to execute the match plan to the latter to achieve the desired result. The management has done pretty well for us to prepare for the season we can only assure them that we will not disappoint,” said the former Abubakar Bukola Saraki coach.
