Gombe United’s Suleiman Usman has implored his teammates to try and rescue their season in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) after their State FA triumph over Doma United FC on Wednesday.
The Desert Scorpions came back from a goal down to beat Doma United to lift the 2019 Gombe FA Cup title, after goals from Haruna Aliyu (own goal) and Success Samuel canceled out Kabiru Mohammed opener.
Suleiman, who is the skipper of the team but was an unused substitute in the final game played at Pantami Stadium, pointed out that a home win against Abia Warriors is not negotiable if they are to survive relegation at the end of the season.
“The win against Doma United FC was necessary for us to boost our confidence ahead of the game with Abia Warriors,” Usman told Goal.
“It was a very tough game because they were even the first to score. We had to dig deep because we knew we needed a win badly to put us in the killer mood ahead of the game with Abia Warriors. It was all smiles when we got the equaliser and eventually got the winning goal very late in the game.
Next matches
“We were unable to qualify for the final of last year’s edition after we were stopped in the semi-final but getting the opportunity to play in the final this year and even winning it is commendable.
"We are going to go into the weekend’s game with optimism that we can secure important three points that will help us leave the relegation zone.”
Usman praised their performance against Kano Pillars in Kano, where they got a crucial away point in their last NPFL tie.
“It was an unbelievable performance in Kano two weeks by our team because no one gave us a chance before the start of that game,” he continued.
“We believed in ourselves and we could have beaten them had we converted other chances that we created.
"We have got a brilliant chance now that we can’t afford to throw away. It is the reason why it is important we grab these important three points and pick it up from there in the remaining matches.”