Technical adviser of Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt, Gbenga Ogunbote, is optimistic the excellent display the team put up at the Lotto pre-season tournament in Lagos last month will certainly rub off the team when hostilities get underway in the domestic scene later this month.
Ogunbote, who stated this after yesterday training session, stressed that the tournament has further strengthened the team ahead of the challenges in the 2013/2014 Nigeria professional football season.
“We just tried to make sure we have a very good build-up to the new season and the Lotto tournament helped a great deal in fine tuning some loose ends in the team.
“The tournament has become a challenge for the team because our fans will be looking forward to us replicating the performance in Lagos when the league starts, while some people would want to see how we will cope in the league after last season experience at the start of the season,” Ogunbote.
Ogunbote is certain that his team would have something to show for their feat in Lagos at the end of the season, stressing that current squad was stronger than the team last season.
“Like I told you, it is not as if we have a perfect team but we want to tell people that at the end of the season we will have something to show to the fans and sponsor.
“Without mixing words, we have a stronger team than we had last season and the target we have set for ourselves is high and we will not forgive ourselves if we don’t achieve at the end of the season,” he added.