Match preview: Abia Warriors v Jigawa Golden Stars

Abia Warriors and Jigawa Golden Stars head into their match-week 04 Nigeria Professional Football League clash at Enyimba Arena on the back of three consecutive defeats on the back of poor start to the new season.

The hosts lost their game of the season to NPFL table-toppers Rivers United in Port Harcourt in the opening day of the new season, whereas Jigawa Golden Stars started their campaign with a win over Sunshine Stars 1-0 at their temporary home ground, Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.

Prior to making the trip back to Aba, Abia Warriors had taken to the pitch 2 times in the current campaign,loosing their match-week 03 to Akwa United 2-1 and placed them 19th^th on the current league standings with no points, Jigawa Golden Stars occupied 12^th position on the log after loosing to 2016 champions in Kaduna.

With unconfirmed speculation over Imama Amapakabo’s future beginning to mount, the Ochendo Boys will have to put smiles back into the face of their fans who will be watching through the new NPFLTV app and NTA.

The Umuahia faithful will be praying that a confidence-boosting win over Jigawa Golden Stars will surely come to past and will act as a catalyst for change in the Nigeria Professional Football League campaign, Amapakabo’s men rooted second to the bottom of the table and still searching for their first three points.

With early survival looking increasingly unlikely unless the Ochendo Boys can pull off a magnificent turnaround over the next couple of months, as well as being one of the NPFL sides yet to win this term, Amapakabo’s crop are the one of the team (including cash crunch Heartland F.C. of Owerri) without a clean sheet to their name, and another defeat on home soil would mark the first time ever that Abia Warriors have lost three straight home games in a row on their own turf.

In contrast, Jigawa Golden Stars will be hoping to continue to good form when they faced an intimidating trip to the Abia state second-largest city and one of Nigeria’s busiess business city to take on Abia Warriors, but the Giants Killers gave it a real good go and forced hard against the Flying Antelopes in Kaduna, but they lost concentration towards the end of the match week 03 when Israel Abia 79^TH minutes earned the 2016 champions 3points and away victory on the road this season.

Sunday’s defeat to Rangers International dropped them to 12^th on the league standings to two defeats since their 1-0 win over Sunshine Stars in Kaduna in the opening day of the season, with 3 points.

Last 10 Abia Warriors

Comp Date   H         A         S          WDL

PL        09‑Jan‑21     Akwa United            Abia Warriors          2‑1      L

PL        02‑Jan‑21     Abia Warriors          Rivers United           0‑1      L

PL        29‑Dec‑20    Enyimba        Abia Warriors          1‑0      L

PL        18‑Mar‑20   MFM FC        Abia Warriors          2‑1      L

PL        15‑Mar‑20   Abia Warriors          Adamawa United   2‑1      W

PL        08‑Mar‑20   Sunshine Stars        Abia Warriors          1‑0      L

PL        01‑Mar‑20   Abia Warriors          Akwa United            2‑1      W

PL        23‑Feb‑20    Katsina United         Abia Warriors          1‑0      L

PL        16‑Feb‑20    Abia Warriors          Enyimba        1‑4      L

PL        09‑Feb‑20    Enyimba        Abia Warriors          2‑1      L

Last 10 Jigawa Golden Stars

Comp Date   H         A         S          WDL

PL        10‑Jan‑21     Jigawa Golden Stars          Enugu Rangers        0‑1      L

PL        03‑Jan‑21     Akwa Starlets          Jigawa Golden Stars          2‑1      L

PL        27‑Dec‑20    Jigawa Golden Stars          Sunshine Stars        1‑0      W

PL        18‑Mar‑20   Jigawa Golden Stars          Heartland     2‑1      W

PL        15‑Mar‑20   Kano Pillars  Jigawa Golden Stars          2‑0      L

PL        08‑Mar‑20   Jigawa Golden Stars          Kwara United          2‑1      W

PL        01‑Mar‑20   Plateau United        Jigawa Golden Stars          2‑1      L

PL        23‑Feb‑20    Jigawa Golden Stars          Wikki Tourists         2‑1      W

PL        16‑Feb‑20    Nasarawa United   Jigawa Golden Stars          1‑0      L

PL        12‑Feb‑20    Enugu Rangers        Jigawa Golden Stars          1‑0      L

Teams Abia Warriors Jigawa Golden Stars played so far 1 matches.

Abia Warriors won 1 direct matches. Jigawa Golden Stars won 0 matches. 0 matches ended in a draw. On average in direct matches, both teams scored 3.00 goals per Match.

Abia Warriors in actual season average scored 0.33 goals per match. In 0 (0.00%) matches played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 0 (0.00%) matches in season 2021 played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.

Jigawa Golden Stars average scored 0.67 goals per match in season 2021. In 1 (100.00%) matches played away was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 1 (100.00%) matches played away team was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals

Abia Warriors2-1Jigawa Golden Stars

Abia Warriors NPFL form: LLL

Jigawa Golden Stars form: WLL

Abia Warriors might make some tactical changes both in the defence and he goalkeeping, Ojo Olorunleke could be call up to mount the post ahead of Vincent Edafe who was between the sticks against Akwa United.

Full-back Markson Ojobo and Harrison Ibukun have shown a lot of promises since joining the Umahia during offseason transfers, with a goal Harrison Ibukun’s he could be in Amapakabo’s eleven men that will face the giants’ killers this Wednesday if anything goes by.

Abia Warriors possible starting lineup:

Olorunleke; Markson Ojobo, Arit Achibong, Harrison Ibukun,Adekunle Adeleke, Innocent Gabriel, Ogar David, Nzube Anaemeana, Fatai Abdullahi, Obioma Chukwuemeka, Samson Paul