After a narrow 1-0 win in the Southwest derby against Sunshine Stars on Saturday, the coach of Remo Stars Daniel Ogunmodede commended his players and the opposing team for putting up a good fight and showing the quality of our football to the outside world, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
Shuaibu Ibrahim's goal in the 7th minute of the encounter was enough to help Ogunmodede boys overcome their Southwest neighbor in the first Southwest derby of the season.
Assessing the game in general, Ogunmodede said: "It's a tough game. They're extremely tough game. Maybe because it comes as a derby and the first home game. First outwards derby, maximum three points. I'm happy with that.
"Not a good game, not a fantastic game for us, but good fight from the players. We got our early goal and after that they came out. We have a lot of confidence to know that they can do it and I feel their pain. I know the kind of humiliation they pass through last season, they don't want to pass through such again. So they came with different mentality, top mentality this time. But the most important thing for me and is that the Southwest, they came with the intensity it needed.
"We need to feed people well with our football. They were able to see good thing today, not a weaker side or a better side, dealing with the weaker side. So it's match for match and I must commend our boys and also the opponent for putting up a good fight. But most importantly for me and as a coach is complimenting our last match with maximum three points."
Speaking on the qualities of his bench, Ogunmodede has this to say: "Of course, we've got quality, we have a lot of depth in our midfield, a lot of depth in defence, maybe not so much in the attack but they come with quality and that is what we showed today. You saw the angle the strikers scored the ball, how calm and clever it was. So that is to show you the kind of striker kind of attack we have present.
Ogunmodede will hope his boys continue their good start to the season by picking the maximum points on Sunday when they visit Kano for a matchday 3 clash with Pillars.
Oluwayemi Omolagba