Rivers Angels FC head coach Edwin Okon has sounded a note of warning to his team as they prepare to rekindle their feisty rivalry with Bayelsa Queens in the season-ending Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Super 4 tournament at the Agege Township Stadium on Friday.
Both teams go at each other in Friday’s 4pm kick-off for the chance to progress to the final of the tournament which will decide the champions of the 2018/2019 league season.
Winners of the tie will square up against the victor in the day’s opening match between Adamawa Queens and Confluence Queens of Lokoja.
With Bayelsa Queens having thumped the Jewels of Rivers 2-0 in their most recent encounter in the season-opening Champions Shield in Yenagoa, Okon speaking to the club’s media channel says the upcoming season-ending showdown with Bayelsa Queens will be ‘a final before the final’.
The former head coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s national team said the nature of the competition means there are no “pushovers” in the tournament.
“The Super 4 is a very big competition which rounds up events of the league for the year,” Okon said.
“The four teams that qualified for the tournament are all good teams, there [are] no pushovers among them. So, as a coach of one of the top teams in this country, I am expecting a very good fight and very good matches from the four teams.”
“The game with Bayelsa Queens is like a final before the final and it will be a very good, entertaining and sweet match which will make people know that the Nigerian Women league has come of age.”
Rivers Angels are currently on a three-year title drought having last won the league in 2016 and following two subpar outings in the last two editions of the Super 4, Okon believes the time is ripe for his side to reacquaint themselves with the league title.
“It’s been a while we last won a league title so it’s high time we got back to it,” he continued.
“Having missed out on the title for two consecutive seasons, I can say that we are very hungry right now and need to feed ourselves,” the former Super Falcons handler said.
Winners of both games will proceed to the title-deciding match on Sunday while losers will contest the third-place playoff.
