Sporting Lagos head coach Jeffery Buter says his side’s success in preseason has provided a major confidence boost ahead of the new NPFL season, www.aclsports.com reports.
The Lagos-based club, who gained promotion this year and won the second division title, emerged victorious from a competitive Value Jet preseason tournament in Ikenne after testing themselves against several teams they could potentially face during the league campaign.
In a chat with ACLSports after the final triumph on Sunday, Buter believes the tournament offered his players an opportunity to assess their progress and measure themselves against quality opposition.
“We had to test ourselves against potential opponents in the league. It’s a preseason, but you get to see where your team is and where they have to be to be able to have a good outing in the season,” Buter told www.aclsports.com.
“So, going up against these teams that we competed against and for us to be able to compete the way we did and to win the tournament, I think it’s massive for us.”
The Tech Boys faced Remo Stars twice, Abia Warriors twice, Rivers United, and Shooting Stars to win the tournament unbeaten, and the coach believes his team’s ability to compete against champions and continental representatives reflects their capacity to compete in the coming NPFL season.
“If you can compete against the champions, teams on the continent and come out victorious, it shows that you can compete against them in the league,” he added.
Despite the positive preseason results, Buter insists there is still work to be done, with the focus now on improving the team’s technical and tactical aspects before the league gets underway.
“It’s for us to keep improving what we have done in the last week. See, now we can better the team in terms of technical and tactical things, and I think we will be fine,” he said.
With the new season less than two weeks away, Buter suggested that Sporting Lagos could now prioritise improving their existing squad rather than making unnecessary additions.
“You will never know what you will find. If you find something better than what you have, you sometimes have to reconsider. We’ve had some good additions, and they have really made us better. We can improve what we have now, rather than looking for other places because it’s less than two weeks to the start of the new season.”
Meanwhile, Buter also praised the depth of his goalkeeping department (Ebenezer Harcourt, Usman Mohammed, Clinton Lawani), stressing the importance of having reliable options throughout what will be a demanding 38-game campaign.
“What it tells you is that you can rely on any one of them. You want the best players in your squad, and we know we are going to play 38 games this season. Injuries, national team call-ups and more can come up. We have to be ready, and I’m really impressed with the goalkeeping department,” Buter explained.
Sporting Lagos will now turn their attention to fine-tuning preparations as they look to build on their preseason success ahead of their NPFL campaign opener against Doma United in Gombe.
