Atoe urges ABS FC players to improve upon their winning mentality

Defender Emmanuel Atoe of ABS Football Club of Ilorin has urged his teammates to work on their mentality of winning matches ahead of the 2020/2021 Nigeria National League (NNL) season.

Atoe, who is one of the club’s most senior players, told newsmen in Ilorin on Sunday that this was necessary for them to excel in the new season which begins on Saturday.

He said the wake-up call became important after ABS FC lost two Grade A friendly matches in Ilorin.

They lost 0-2 to Crown FC of Ogbomoso on Thursday and 1-2 to Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan on Saturday.

“Last week’s games against Crown FC and Shooting Stars just reminded us that failure in life is inevitable.

“Even the best of the best teams in the world lose matches sometimes. But we can take a lot of positives from the two matches.

“Even though we dominated in both matches, but we still need to improve our mentality of winning matches,” the defender said.

He however expressed the belief that they would do better in the league. “This is because we have the capabilities.

“Like I said earlier, last week was a wake-up call for us to tighten our belts.

“As we go again this week, we will have to make ourselves proud,” Atoe said.

ABS FC are in Group A2 of the abridged 2020/2021 NNL season and will head to Abuja to face Road Safety on Saturday in their opening match.

Other clubs in Group A2 include Kebbi United of Birnin Kebbi, Malumfashi FC of Katsina, DMD FC of Maiduguri and FC Zamfara of Gusau.

The rest are Niger Tornadoes of Minna, Kogi United of Lokoja, Yobe Desert Stars of Damaturu and Real Stars of Kaduna.