Heartland Technical Manager Emmanuel Amuneke has urged his players to pick up their gauntlets and be ready to fight for the points in Lagos against Ikorodu City on Sunday in one of the Nigeria Premier Football League Matchday 27 games.
The Naze Millionaires were held to a draw by visiting El Kanemi Warriors in Owerri on Sunday but Amuneke has asked his players to put the draw behind them and focus on their weekend tie with the Oga Boys.
“We shall go to Lagos to aspire to win our game. We are not there for any revenge. They came here and got a point and so also we shall go there to play our game and if we can win there it will be a welcome development,” Amuneke told NationSport.
Amuneke blamed his players’ lacklustre display in the first half but noted that El Kanemi Warriors Goalie, Kolawole Oladipo pulled off fantastic saves to deny his team the maximum points.
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“We came into the game with the objective of winning. We were not clinical in the first half and we lost many chances. In the second half also, we lost some chances too. I must give credit to their goalkeeper (Kolawole Oladipo) he was exceptional in this game and in this type of game; you need your goalkeeper to be exceptional to do the job. We controlled the game but the goalkeeper saved them.
“Heartland has improved a lot. When you talk about the ability of a team to manage a game we are one of the best teams to do that.
“El Kanemi Warriors are a very good side. They are always ready to play and they are not afraid to play even in a tight corner and this makes them dangerous. We will go back to analyse ourselves and look back at the areas we need to improve before our next game,” he added.