Abia Warriors Head Coach, Imama Amapakabo, has revealed that his team’s emphatic 2-0 victory over Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) in Sunday’s Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Matchday 29 clash in Umuahia was the product of a superior tactical game plan, Completesports.com reports.
Abia Warriors Outclass 3SC With Tactical 4-4-2 Plan
Emeka Obioma scored twice — one in each half — as the Umuahia side secured a 2-0 win to move into fourth position on the table with 46 points, behind leaders Rivers United, Rangers International and Nasarawa United.
The 27-year-old striker, who previously had spells with Al Bashayer and Al Majd, is now Abia Warriors’ leading scorer with nine goals this season.
Also Read: NPFL: Obuh Targets Top-Two Finish As Abia Warriors Push For CAF Champions League Spot
A delighted Amapakabo, a former Nigeria junior international goalkeeper, disclosed during the post-match press conference that he anticipated 3SC’s biggest strength would be in midfield, prompting him to deploy a 4-4-2 formation to neutralise their influence.
“Every game has its own approach. I knew that one of 3SC’s strongest strengths is their midfield,” Amapakabo began.
“So we needed to create something to match what they were going to put forward.
“We also knew that we needed to put a player further forward in order to pin down their centre-backs so they couldn’t come forward to support their attack. We knew their centre-backs sometimes stray from their positions, and it worked out for us.
“We also knew we needed to play from the wide areas. We had deliveries coming in, though sometimes we didn’t get it right. But we’ll keep working.”
Amapakabo Reflects On Crucial Victory
Asked about his feelings following the win, which has strengthened their push for a top-three finish, the 2015/2016 NPFL title-winning coach with Rangers said he was satisfied with the three points.
“Another three points in the bag. I think we still have nine games to play, which is my major priority now.
“We showed some good football today and I believe we should be able to build on this going forward.
“We created a whole lot of chances today. Like I always say, one of our biggest problems has been conversion. But we’ll keep working and believing that we’ll get lucky in the remaining nine games.”
Abia Warriors Conversion Rate Still A Concern
On two-goal hero Obioma, who could have scored more than a hat-trick, Amapakabo did not hide his displeasure over his team’s low conversion rate, although he admitted the two goals were enough to secure maximum points.
“Yes, like I said, conversion has been our biggest problem. Over the week I reviewed the games we’ve played and the goals we’ve been able to score.
“Fortunately — very much unlike my team for some time — we’ve not scored more than two goals in a game this season.
“I told them that there’s no match we’ve played where we didn’t create chances. Today could have produced a bagful of goals, but unfortunately this is what we have.
Also Read: NPFL: Abia Warriors Coach Amapakabo Targets Continental Return After Kwara United Win
“But most importantly, the points matter. We won, and the three points matter. Kudos to the team.”
Abia Warriors Prepare For Tough Kano Trip
Abia Warriors will travel to Kano to face Kano Pillars at the Sani Abacha Stadium in this weekend’s Matchday 30 fixture.
The Warriors gaffer admitted the league season has entered its decisive phase and urged his players to brace themselves for the demanding final stretch.
“Like I said, we have nine games remaining. For me, I like to make my players understand that the league is like a 400m race.
“Now we’ve entered the last 100m — which is the final nine games. So we must dig deep.
Let us not forget that out of these nine games, five are away and four are at home.
“All these factors are being considered as I try to ensure every point counts for us. We didn’t do well in the 300m lap, so in the last 100m we must run straight to the finishing tape as fast and as strongly as possible.”
By Sab Osuji
