To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up…..
I know you are wondering why I have taken the above words verbatim from the opening three verses of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 to start this piece. Truly there is time for everything under the Heaven and under the Sun. There are times you take time off after suffering a burnout and there are times you roll up your sleeves and dig your hands in the mud to get desired results or outcome for a project or job.
For the People’s Elephant, this is the season for them to end that hoodoo that Remo Stars have had over them in their last six Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) meetings. Last season, Remo Stars did the double over Enyimba, one of the reasons, this Sunday’s opponents finished in second place last time out. I remember Remo Stars winning with 1-0 scorelines in both matches in Aba and Ikenne through goals from Samad Kadiri and Olamilekan Adams respectively.
I am sure Yemi ‘Yema’ Olanrewaju is a man who looks at every small detail before and after matches, and this particular poor run of Enyimba against Remo Stars is something he would want to see an end to considering he was Finidi George’s assistant last season when the Sky Blue Stars achieved that double over them. This time though the setting of this matchup is a bit different. Last time out in this same fixture when Remo Stars won in Aba they were top of the table while Enyimba were in 10th place. But this Sunday’s meeting is a top-of-the-table clash between Enyimba in third place and leaders Remo Stars.
This is the time for Yema and his boys “to break down” that poor run against Remo Stars and “build up” for the coming schedule that will be full of feisty and demanding matches. The Enyimba contingent can make Remo Stars’ second trip to the East a difficult one after they lost in Owerri to Heartland at the tail end of last month.
Despite a patchy run by Enyimba’s standards in their last five matches (W1 D3 L1), they are still within touching distance of the top-two sides, and I expect Yema’s team to go guns blazing this Sunday when Remo Stars come calling. Last three matches on the road for the visiting side have not been good as they have lost all at Heartland (0-1), Plateau United (1-3) and Kwara United (0-1).
So for the People’s Elephant this is the time to use a stone to kill two birds: one, the time to end the poor head-to-head run against Remo Stars and the time to close the gap at the top of the pile.
All in all, I expect Enyimba to come out good in this top-of-the-table contest on Sunday.
