The sporting director of Lagos-based Smart City FC, Abiodun Obafemi has predicted that the team will gain promotion to Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), because it’s a target they set out to achieve from the beginning of this season.
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Sports247 reports that, though Smart City are currently fourth on the log of Nigeria National League (NNL), Obafemi insists they will scale through because they won’t give up the fight until the season ends.
The former defender and ex-international, who was part of Nigeria’s gold medal-winning under-23 squad at Atalanta ’96 Olympic Games, enthused that Saturday’s 3-1 spanking of Crown FC of Ogbomosho further confirmed Smart City’s strong push for promotion this season.
Obafemi pointed out, “I am super happy for the three points, because it improved our standing on the league table.
“Our objective right from the first day of the season was to gain promotion, and we are staying focused on that target. We are still hopeful about it, and we’ll continue to be until the last match.
“We will not give up, and that dream will continue to live with us. It will be our guide and biggest motivation in all our matches this season.”
Although Obafemi admitted that his side needs a touch of luck to pull through the highly competitive NNL race, he reasoned further that they are good enough to weather the storm and achieve their ambition.
“The NNL’s standard is very high this season. There is no pushover club in this division, and all the teams are very good.
“The standard was also very high in our game versus Crown FC, and it has been like that right from our very first match this season; but I still rate my team very high.
“We are one of the best, and there’s no doubt about that. There’s no gainsaying, we have one of the best teams in the league, if not the best.
“What we need, though, is luck, which is not far away from us. Our next match is away to Sunshibe Stars in Akure, where we hope to get a good result.
“We still have the league leaders, Inter Lagos to face, but we are not scared of them. We defeated them in the first round and I believe we’ll still beat them in the next match,” Obafemi boasted.
Sports247 gathered further that Smart City are currently fourth on the NNL’s log, with 20 points, same as Heartland of Owerri; while Beyond Limits of Ikenne are second with 24 points and one game played more than others, but level with top placed Inter Lagos FC.
Smart City’s next fixture is away to Sunshine Stars of Akure on Friday, following which they will host Beyond Limit on the 28th of March and then visit Inter Lagos in a local derby on April 4th.
