Kano Pillars head coach, Ibrahim Musa has stated that they were able to beat the stubborn El Kanemi Warriors as a result of his second-half tactical substitutions.
Sai Masu Gida defeated the Borno Army 2-1 in a highly charged league tie played at the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano on Sunday and the three points have lifted them to the fourth spot in the top-flight Group B with 23 points from 14 games.
Even though Gambo Mohammed scored his second goal of the season in the eighth minute to signal that it might be a comfortable win for the hosts but El Kanemi turned the heat on Ibrahim Musa’s men urged on by the performance of former players of Pillars who were led by Mohammed Babaganaru.
Babaganaru won two league titles for Sai Masu Gida during the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Musa said that he foresaw a difficult second half and had to bring on three players almost at the same time with the firm instructions to ensure that a second goal is scored and for the players to improve the level of their aggression so that El Kanemi won’t have any chance to come back in the game.
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“I have to inform you that the weekend game with El kanemi Warriors was one of the toughest we have played in recent times,” Musa told GOAL.
“El Kanemi came to Kano with some of our former players and that they made the day very difficult for us. They had won the first leg 2-1 in Maiduguri and we were expected to secure our own three points to ensure that we improve on our league position in the league table. They had Kabiru Balogun, Rasak Aliyu, Bello Kofarmata among others that have played for Pillars before in their squad and they came to prove a point.
“We were fortunate to score an early goal through Gambo Mohammed in the eighth minute and it made us settle down but El Kanemi Warriors were not ready to be beaten that easily. They were close to equalizing before the end of the first half and I knew that if we failed to act in the second half they might equalize and even add more goals. We had to make three tactical substitutions almost at the same time to help snuff out life out of our opponents.
“We had to add David Ebuka, Yusuf Maigoro, and Yaro Bature to the team in the second half in place of Alassan Ibrahim, Nzube Anaezemba and another player and their introduction were massive because we got the second goal almost immediately through David in the 61st minute. El Kanemi scored one goal a few minutes after we scored our second (through Bello Kofarmata in the 66th minute) but we managed to hold on until the end of the game.”