Abia Warriors netted twice in the second half to end a winless run against Remo Stars last Saturday in Okigwe and Coach Imama Amapakabo put the win down to a quick decision to exploit dead ball situations.
Abia Warriors returned to the second 45minutes to take the lead from Yakubu Ahmed 61st minute free kick while Valentine Odoh scored the second goal in the 80th minute.
Speaking at the post match, Amapakabo explained that after observing the Remo Stars lineup, he had to improvise a match plan for the second half and leaned on the players to make better use of set pieces.
He revealed that the team has been working on set pieces and was happy to have gotten a set piece goal.
“We needed to utilise the set pieces that we have had. We have been terrible with set pieces. We worked on it but when anxiety sets in, players tend to lose it but fortunately we were able to get a goal through a set piece”, the former Rangers Coach remarked.
He also spoke of his reading of the Remo Stars game approach from what he saw of their squad.
“Fortunately when I saw the lineup, I knew they would be coming up with a different formation. They kept a very low line and they kept a high number of players behind the line”.
“What we were not doing right in the first half was trying to keep possession and we didn’t have that individual brilliance and we were not making positive runs. We knew that we needed to drag them out of possession. We needed some bit of creativity”
Remo Stars coach, Gbenga Ogungbote said he was disappointed with the result as his team were careless in the game.
“It was a disappointing game for me too. You see we had many careless moments especially in the second half. But sometimes when it happens you pick your pieces and then move on”, rued Ogunbote
Abia Warriors will go away to play Dakkada in Uyo in the next fixture while Remo Stars host Rangers International FC.
