Federation Cup: Sabo Okala hails Honey Badgers after big win over Kada Queens 

By Wale Mustapha

Head Coach of Honey Badgers, Sabo Okala has heaped praises on his players for their impressive display that earned them a commanding 4-0 win over Kada Queens in the 2023 Women’s Federation Cup Round of 32 tie on Friday.

The NWFL Championship side took their opponents to cleaners at the Bako Kotangora Stadium with Odinaka Odoh giving the Badgers the lead in the 20th minutes as she latched on to a through pass from Mercy Mbachu.

Kada Queens pushed to restore parity before end of half time but Badgers held on to their slim lead.

The girls from Makurdi took the game beyond their opponents in the second with three more goals from Ene Agada (52), Tabitha Terlunmu (60) and Mercy Mbachu (80) to seal a place in the Round of 16.

An impressed Okala told nigeriafootball.ng after the big win in Minna that his players lived up to expectations just as he promised to work on making them more formidable as they head into crucial stage of the competition.

“We had a very wonderful game today and I’m really impressed with the girls because they were able to translate what we practice in the training sessions to game proper as I reflected in the scoreline.

“Despite that, I feel we still have a lot to work on and by God’s grace we will do that when we get home.

“Its a young side and for them to assimilate some of training drills and make good use of them in a a a match gave us hope and positives that they can become better than this with time and more focus on what they’ve been doing.”

Okala has played down setting a target for the team in the Federation Cup adding that it will be used as platform to showcase the girls on a big stage but will fancy going farther in the tournament.

“We are not setting any benchmark for ourselves in this competition, we just want to enjoy playing it and give the girls more visibilities which they are grabbing it.

“As a product of Federation Cup (FA Cup) myself, I’d like to take them far in it and give them that feeling of playing in the advanced levels of it, why not if the path is clear for us to get to the final, we will take it and make the most of it,” he said.

Badgers will be waiting for their next opponent for the Round of 16 as the Nigeria Fotbsll Federation, NFF are expected to disclosed that soon.