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Fortress Ladies sees Federation Cup as NWFL Nationwide build up – Proprietor Jimmy Aimuagbonrie
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Proprietor of Nigeria Women Football League Nationwide side, Fortress Ladies Jimmy Aimuagbonrie has evealed that the 2023 Federation Cup is a form of preparation and build-up for the upcoming NWFL Nationwide campaign.
The 2023 NWFL Nationwide will take place in Benin City, the capital of Edo State from May 22 to 27 and Fortress will face off with Bayelsa Queens in quarterfinal of the 2023 Federation Cup a 2-1 win over Honey Badgers.
“We are ready to possess our possession which is the ticket to the Championship. We are fully ready psychologically, morally, and otherwise to go there and take our chance,” Jimmy told Nigeriafootball.ng.
“By the grace of God, we would qualify for the NWFL Championship. The team is using the Federation Cup to do a lot of preparations because we are going straight to the camp to perfect some mistakes that were made.”
After going down by a lone goal in the second half, Wole Opatola tutored side made some tactical changes in the second half leading to a 2-1 win, they will aim to pull off another upset against the NWFL Premiership holders.
“I want to thank God for making it possible for us to get this victory. When we were one goal down, I knew that the second half was going to be a different ball game,” he continued.
“Looking at the Federation Cup, it’s a Cup that after regulation time, both sides will have to go into penalties. After considering that, I brought in two of my girls who actually changed the game. I am happy that we were able to utilize our chances because, in the first half, we created about three chances that we threw away.
“The substitutions actually worked for me and I am happy that my girls were able to deliver. At half time, I told the players to forget about the first half and they should concentrate on the second half. I also told them that our opponents are older than them.
“We created chances in the first half and were top of our game but could not score due to some silly mistakes. When the changes were made in the second half, we were able to convert our chances. In the second half, we created six chances and scored two goals. In the first half, we created four chances and couldn’t score one.
“This was as a result of the changes that were made. I have to give God the glory. It was God that helped us. We want to thank God that we are in the Federation Cup. I think during the Nationwide League and Federations Cup last year, we actually didn’t do well. We were able to put some things in order and went back to the board to position the things we need to position.”
Fortress Ladies will face Chosen Generation from Ogun State, Unification FC, Kaduna Queens, and Castmog FC of Abeokuta, Ogun State in Group B of the 2023 NWFL Championship.
