KADUNA – Kano Pillars head coach Ibrahim Musa has revealed extra measures he has put in place to ensure there’s no repeat of the capitulation his side suffered in the 2018 Aiteo Cup final as they take on Niger Tornadoes in the 2019 final.

Pillars inexplicably let slip a three-goal lead against Enugu Rangers in the second half at the Stephen Keshi Stadium before going on to lose on penalties.

And one year removed from that debacle, Musa still is at a loss to explain how his side managed to lose from such a position and told busybuddiesng.com that going into the 2019 Aiteo Final against Tornadoes at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, that he has ensured extra measures to forestall a repeat now they’ve been afforded the good fortune of rectifying their mistake of a year ago.

“I can’t even explain how we lost that match, because totally from the first minute to the last minute was our game. I don’t know how we lost that game. But it’s past and immediately after I said it was destiny and now God has answered our request opportunity to be in the final again.

“What we have tried to do from even our first match in the Aiteo Cup is that we started checking our players after every match which we were not doing before. I assigned our doctors and nurses to check the fitness, mental and psychological state of our players after every game to avoid the problem that happened last time. So by the Grace of God at the end of today, we would not have the problem we had last time and we are going to lift the trophy this second time.”

Many pundits have Pillars down as outright favourites against a Tornadoes side that lost their topflight status at the end of the 2018/2019 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season.

But Musa with the lessons of Asaba still prominent in his thoughts says no team that manages a final run is a pushover and Pillars would do well to ensure complacency doesn’t plague them today.

“Tornadoes is a good team, and not just that but any team that makes it to the final of the Aiteo Cup is a good team you can’t under rate such teams. They are a very good team no matter that they got relegated. So we can’t take anything for granted to lose that match.”