2018 Aiteo Cup Champions, Enugu Rangers have put their unfruitful outing at the CAF Confederations Cup behind and believe they can “conquer” the 2019 Nigeria Professional Football League.
Enugu Rangers began their campaign on the continent in promising style, beating Defence Force SC by a 5–1 goal aggregate to progress into the first round of the competition. The first round did not prove a stumbling block as the Flying Antelopes put USM Bel-Abbes behind and went on to boot out Bantu FC during the playoffs.
Triumphantly, they put two past Salitas FC in their first game in the group stage but after being held to a draw by CS Sfaxien in Tunisia, the Nigerian representatives got thrashed away and at home by Etoile du Sahel.
An opportunity to revive their campaign got truncated by Salitas FC who stopped Coach Gbenga Ogunbote’s side from picking a vital win in Burkina Faso.
At that point, Ranger’s fortune got tied to luck. On Matchday 6, the NPFL side had to hope for Salitas FC to hold Etoile du Sahel to at least a draw and ensure they beat CS Sfaxien in front of home fans but the reverse happened in both cases as Etoile du Sahel beat Salitas FC while the Nigerian side ended what began as a promising campaign with a lone goal loss to their opponents.
Despite their party crash at continental level, the Enugu-based side delivered felicitations to their supporters and are upbeat they can conquer Nigeria’s topflight league.
“We scored seventeen goals and conceded nine. Thank you all our supporters for being there for us while the victories rolled in.
Even when the results we wished for did not come, you stood firmly by us. Together, we go again to conquer the nation.” A post on the Twitter handle of the club read.
The Flying Antelopes are placed tenth in Group A of the 2019 Abridged domestic league having recorded nine (9) points from four (4) matches and have six (6) outstanding matches.
