‘Shooting Primed For Premier League Challenge’

In spite of losing to a last-gasp goal on Saturday to fellow newcomer in the Globacom Premier League, Kwara United, at the Ilorin Township Stadium in a pre-season friendly, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) believes that it is ready to challenge for honours in the top-flight next term.
Shooting Stars’ head coach, Phillip Boamah, told our correspondent that though his side lost by 1-2 to Kwara United last Saturday in a friendly match, his side is prepared to compete in the Premier division.
The Ghanaian, who was absent for that match, is optimistic that the Oluyole Warriors would start its campaign in the Premier League on a promising note after falling to the Afonja Warriors in a pre-season game.
He believes that the match against Kwara United at the weekend was meant to discover areas in the team where he and his coaching crew would work on ahead of the new season.
“After our match against Kwara United, I have seen where we need to do more work and by the time the new season starts, we will be ready to compete in the league with the other clubs. We are not worried about the loss to Kwara United because we gave a good account of ourselves and remember that it was just a friendly match,” he said.
Asked if the loss to Kwara United would not have a psychological effect on his side when Shooting Stars makes the short trip from Ibadan to Ilorin in the regular season, Boamah wants the result to be disregarded as one that would affect his side when it faces the Ilorin side in the coming campaign.
The Ghanaian coach, who is a former player of the club, instead is looking forward to his side’s opening game against former champion, Kano Pillars.
Boamah knows that the trip to the ancient city of Kano would be a massive test for his Shooting Stars’ side that would be making its first appearance in the top-flight division since 2006.
“Our target is to do well in the Premier League starting with our match against Kano Pillars. First we will want to stay in the Premier League and that is why we decided to play against Kwara United and our loss against them will not affect us at all when we play them next season,” he said.