By Sedara Philip
Lobi Stars FC has braced up for the highly anticipated north-central derby tie against visiting Niger Tornadoes FC at the New Jos Township Stadium, Plateau State.
Coach Mohammed Baba Ganaru and his men have turned their attention to the domestic league after recording an important victory in the mid-week Federation Cup round of 64 over a lower-division side, FC One Rocket to progress to the round of 32 of the competition.
A big sigh of relief was also recorded in that defeat over the NNL side, the Makurdi based side was able to score twice in an open play before regulation time to end a two-game goal drought which shall serve as a big morale booster going into Sunday crunch derby tie with the Minna based side on match day 16, as the race for the super 6 looks tight till the final whistle.
The last games of the week 18 will prove to be the likely decider, the “Shoe Get Size” boys are firmly on course with total commitment to secure one of the available playoff tickets.
The reverse fixture of this tie saw the table toppers secured a point in Kaduna after a 0-0 scoreline and they will come all out aggressively come tomorrow at the New Jos Stadium against the “Ikon Allah” boys.
Joseph Atule who scored the equalizer in the midweek Federation Cup against hard-fighting Rocket in Awka will be looking forward to continuing his fine form against the visitors alongside Wasiu Alalade who scored the opener in that midweek clash.
The visitors are in town led by head coach Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed and will be hoping on Munir Idris and David Okoromi to put pressure on the table toppers after the duo combined to score thrice against visiting Abia Warriors on matchday 15 of the Nigeria Premier Football League(NPFL) to move to 5th position.
Bala will approach tomorrow’s cracker with a game plan, however, Lobi gaffer Baba Ganaru with his vast knowledge of the game, having won the league more than once with Kano Pillars, will be on the sideline keenly to push Umar Abba, Elijah Ani, Moses Tsehuan, Suur Kumaga to help aid Atule and Alalade to cause the visitors havoc and secure the maximum points after the final whistle.
