After having its ten-match unbeaten run stopped on the last match day in Katsina, the ‘Flying Antelopes’ will on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, seek to return to its winning ways when it hosts Abia Warriors F.C in an ‘Oriental Derby’ that will happen inside the main bowl of Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.
In the reverse fixture that happened inside Unuahia Township Stadium on November 26, 2023, it took a Collins Nwoburuoke 3rd minutes strike to tilt the pendulum of victory to the way of the Umuahia side as they stretched their edge over the ‘Flying Antelopes’ to seven wins, four losses and three draws in the fourteen encounters between both sides since the 2015 league season.
Going into the match day 30 fixture, the home side, Rangers International proudly seat atop the twenty-team log having amassed 51 points with the visitors occupying the 11th spot on the log with 38 points with the last five matches from for Rangers reading; L, W, W, W, D while Abia Warriors read; W, L, D, L, D.
Coach Fidelis Ilechukwu, the reigning LBA Manager-of-the-Month for March 2024, after the loss in Katsina, stated that he was not too happy with the manner his unbeaten run was truncated but was glad that his wards fought a good fight on the pitch before the loss and hope to kick start another round of unbeaten runs as the season approaches the business end.
READ ALSO: AC Milan legend wants the best for Chukwueze
Coach Ilechukwu stated, “The encounter with Abia Warriors is going to be very tight because no team is a pushover in the NPFL. No team is a small team. You can’t say you will win when you have not played the game. What we are going to do is continue to do our work and we are going to be positive going into the ‘Oriental Derby’ just as we want to quickly put the loss in Katsina behind us and focus on the game at hand with the mindset for a positive result.”
With the expected return of some of the well-rested players who missed the trip to Katsina, Rangers would be looking to edge coach Bethel Orji’s tutored side in the titanic soccer battle expected to kick off by 4:00 pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, following the re-arrangement of the fixture by the league organizers.
Rangers’ goals machine, Godwin Obaje who at a time in his career featured for the Umuahia side will be looking to increase his goals return for this season after hitting eight into the opponent’s nets will have a tough battle with Ifeanyi Anaemena while Enugu brought-up, Samson Obi will hopefully lead the attack for the visitors who will have a full complement of its backline that leaked only three goals in the last ten matches before the Katsina loss.
