With just two points from his team’s opening five matches of the season head coach of Akwa United Mohammed Baba Ganaru says he is confident his team will record its first win of the campaign when they take on Kano Pillars at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Sunday, Sports247 reports.
The Promise Keepers have suffered three straight defeats while managing two draws in their opening five matches of the season and they are eager to hit the ground running on Sunday with a positive result that could prove vital to their ambition in the 2024-25 Nigeria Premier Football League season.
Read Also: Super Eagles Supporters Club President Urges Team to Secure Resounding Victory Against Libya.
In an exclusive interview with the club’s website, coach Baba Ganaru revealed that Sunday’s match will be the turning point for his team and assured that his boys will not leave any stone unturned as they are determined to approach the match with a winning mentality.
“We have only one thing to focus our attention on and that is to ensure we translate our ball play to goals by making sure we make the best use of our chances during the match.
We have properly assessed our previous matches and taken note of the mistakes that we made. We have worked on those noticeable lapses and we know what to do to avoid a repeat of those mistakes as we go into the next match.
“We understand that we are not where we would love to be in the league table after five rounds of matches and our fans are not happy with the results so far.
That is why we are determined to hit the ground running by putting in that extra energy that will give us the result that we need.”
“The league is very competitive and we are aware that no two matches are the same, again every opponent will always come up with game plans”.
“Kano Pillars is a team with a tough mentality but we have our game plan and my players are ready and committed to sticking to our plan. I am confident that they will deliver on Sunday as we hope to record our first win of the season”.
Coach Baba Ganaru believes that fan support will encourage and motivate his team and he calls on the fans to turn out en masse and cheer the 2021 champions to victory.
Both teams have met 24 times in the league between 2012 and 2024 with Akwa United enjoying 10 victories to Kano Pillars nine wins while five of those games ended up in draws.
The Promise Keepers have won nine of their ten previous home matches against Kano Pillars, while the visitors managed just one win in their last ten visits to Uyo and that was a 0-1 win back in 2012.
Meanwhile, there is good news for Akwa United ahead of Sunday’s match as striker Chijioke Alaekwe has returned to full fitness and was part of the team’s training programmes throughout the week and may likely be part of the matchday squad.
The striker was in action for the Promise Keepers in the opening two games before he was sidelined by injury.
