Head coach of Abia Warriors Football Club, Erasmus Onu has blamed his team’s defeat in Illorin to fatigue and long-distance travel.
The Ochendo Boys suffered a 1-0 defeat on Sunday against Kwara United in their first away game of the 2023/24 Nigeria Premier Football League season.
Kwara United defender, Ejeh Isaiah scored in the 44th minute just before the halftime whistle to settle the game for the home in their first game back at the Kwara State Stadium Complex since the 2021/22 season.
Ilorin is in the south-west, while Umuahia is in the south-east of Nigeria. The driving distance between the two cities is 643.4 km. Due to the poor nature of roads in the South East, it is a 15-hour journey from Umuahia.
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Having won their season-opening game with an identical scoreline over Niger Tornadoes last weekend, Onu blamed his team’s defeat on fatigue and called on the Abia State Government to arrange long-distance away matches with an airline company.
Onu was quoted via Broadcaster for NPFL on X, formerly Twitter saying: “Bad roads will kill our league. I think it’s time we start arranging with airlines. We got to Ilorin at 5am this morning and the stress of the journey really affected us.
“It was a terrible journey. We have been on the road since the day before yesterday and had to travel all night because of bad roads,” he said.
Coach Erasmus Onu will hope for an improved performance on Wednesday when his team returns home to welcome Kano Pillars at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
