Pillars, Enyimba battle ready, as Glo Premier League returns

STILL reeling from their inability to cross the second round of this season’s CAF Champions league, Nigerian champions, Kano Pillars and their closest rival, Enyimba of Aba, will this weekend at the Sani Abacha Stadium continue their battle for supremacy in the Glo Premier League.

Last season, Pillars piped Enyimba to the title with just one point, but the ‘Peoples Elephant’ say they are ready to reclaim the crown this term. Pillars’ fell to Morocco’s Moghreb Athletic de Tetouan in the second round of the CAF Champions League, a defeat the team blame on the armed robbery attack on the team early this season.

Now, with most of the players injured in the attack back on their feet, the Okey Emordi boys say they are ready to roll once again. According to the Masu Gida’s attacking midfielder, Azeez Shobowale, the Week Four clash will show Nigerians that the champions have no lost their touch despite the recent setbacks.

Shobowale told a local website, “Of course, it won’t be a do-or-die encounter rather an encounter one of the three possible results, win, lose or draw will prevail at the end of the day.

“I am, however, confident we won’t lose to Enyimba not after our shocking elimination at the CAF Champions League by the Moroccan side, Moghreb Athletic de Tetouan. “The league clash is the first match after both sides crashed at the Africa’s elite club competition.

“We want to use the Enyimba tie to revamp and revive our game once again and return to the winning path. “It’ll be difficult for both sides but we’ve worked very hard to earn the maximum points at stake,” he said.

Also looking forward to a new beginning, Enyimba’s Camerounian star, Raphael Boumsong, says today’s game would not be business as usual for Pillars, who always win their home matches.

The 26-year-old scored Enyimba’s lone goal against Egypt’s Smouha FC in the first leg of the CAF Champions league in Aba, but he could not help the 2003, 2004 champions as the Egyptians netted twice in the reverse leg to carry the day. “I don’t want to continue thinking of that match, though.

I want to focus my energy and attention on the league so we can win and qualify for the Champions League again. I want to score goals in the league like I did in the Champions League, and hopefully give my team a real chance.

It’s a long time we won the league and I think this year can be our year if we start now to work hard.” Top scorer with 23 goals in the 2014 season, Mfon Udoh, who was not registered for the Champions League, will return to action this weekend. He scored a brace in Enyimba’s 3-1 defeat of Pillars on the final day of last season.