After been drawn bye in the Round of 64, holders, Heartland resumes their title defence against Ingas FC in Wednesday’s Round of 32 clash at the UJ Usuene Stadium, Calabar and team captain, Chinedu Efugh, has said his side will make it a treble in this year’s Federations Cup.
Ingas FC saw off Nigeria National League (NNL) side, Ranchers Bees’ challenge to reach the round of 32 of the tournament.
The Enugu-based non-league club may have been dubbed ‘giant killers’ by some but Efugh believes the ‘Naze Millionaires’ are aware of the twist and turns the oldest football tournament in the country brings and will not take any team for granted.
“We’re fully prepared for the battle against Ingas FC on Wednesday, we’re already in closed camp at Rojeny fine-tuning plans that will see us overrun the challengers,” the right-back told supersport.com.
“We’re not leaving any stone unturned in our mission to win the encounter convincingly.
“We know the Federation Cup terrain very well and its surprises so we’re not seeing ourselves as favourites nor the opponents as underdogs but a side that have shown strength to spring up surprises.
“They’re good side to have survived the round of 64 matches to challenge in the round of 32 and nobody will want to toy with a side from Enugu. One can only do so at one’s peril.
“Of course we want to set a record that will be too tough for any side to upturn by making it straight three victories in the Federations Cup.
“We’re motivated going into the game by the recent monetary incentives from the state government, that’s a tonic and not the administrative rancour going on in the side at the moment.
“We players are focused and ready to do bit to ensure the side win the title for three times. We want to use the game on Wednesday to serve the strong warning to the challengers of our intention in this year’s game.”
