Bring on Heartland, Kwara Utd Players, Fans Chant
Aside the national elections, football buffs and players of Kwara United have been talking tough ahead their Match Day 4 clash with second-placed Heartland FC with the players looking to the prospect of maintaining their season’s unbeaten record and the possibility of moving to the summit of the Glo (Nigeria) Premier League.
As April 19 resumption date for the season approaches, the Harmony Boys resumed training on Tuesday, April 7 after the Easter holidays and the players signaled their intent to clinch a second consecutive home victory at the Ilorin Township Stadium.
“We are in fine form right now. Note that we have not lost any match this season, it is a huge boost to our performance and we are training hard to beat Heartland in Ilorin to brighten our chances of going to the first position on the log”, Obadaki Halilu said.
Speaking in the same vein, striker Evans Iyoro who scored United’s opening goal in the 2-1 defeat of El-Kanemi in Ilorin is expecting a tough match against Heartland. “It’s a must win match for us. We know how Heartland shocked Shooting Stars (3SC) in Ibadan but they can’t do that to us in Ilorin”, Iyoro said in an interview with npfl.ng.
The Ilorin side deservedly sits on the fifth position on the table with five points from three games. They earned a point in the season’s opening match following a goalless draw away to Dolphins, defeated El-Kanemi 2-1 at home on Match Day 2 and played 1-1 with Wikki Tourists in Bauchi before the league went on break for the ongoing general elections.
Interestingly, the Naze Millionaires would not be a push-over as the mouth watering encounter beckons. Heartland who have a game in hand (Kano Pillars) defeated 3SC 2-1 on Match Day 2 and drubbed Nasarawa United 5-2 in a seven-goal thriller in a subsequent game in Owerri to garner maximum six points and are just a point behind leaders FC Taraba.
Kwara United earned a morale boosting State FA Cup win in a 4-3 penalty-lottery in the final against Kwara Football Academy. Both teams had tied 2-2 at regulation time before the pendulum of victory swung in favour of Kwara United.
There is also cheering news that the management of the club has cleared three players to team up with the squad coached by Tunde Abdulrahaman ahead of the clash with Heartland.
“We have secured the clearance of Femi Oladapo from Bayelsa United, the dazzling midfielder Anthony Okemiri (the younger brother of Ogbonaya Okemiri) has also joined us, while our former striker, Nasiru Ali who was with Kano Pillars for about three seasons has been cleared to fortify the team”, Olayinka Owolewa, United’s Media Officer disclosed to npfl.ng.
Apart from John Chukwudi who is nursing an injury, players such as Saka Habeeb, Dare Ojo, Peter Gabriel, Jimoh Hammed, Segun Alebiosu, Emmanuel Eviemere and the Gata brothers; Adeshina and Ismaila are fit and raring to go.
However, Kwara United have some challenging fixtures in the coming weeks. Immediately after the Heartland game, they are billed to battle 3SC at Adamasingba Stadium, Ibadan before returning to Ilorin for the double-header home matches against Nasarawa United and Kano Pillars in Match Day 6 and 7 respectively.