By Our Correspondent

Skipper, Rangers International FC of Enugu, Uche John has disclosed that the seven-time Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL winners will begin the 2022/2023 league campaign on a winning note against visiting Abia Warriors in the season’s first “Oriental Derby” in Awka.

Rangers, for the the second season running, adopted Awka City Stadium as their home ground and they hope to begin the new season on a sound footing against the Abia visitors.

In a chat before the team left Enugu for the Anambra state capital, Saturday, the hard-as-nail defender said that he was optimistic of leading the ‘Flying Antelopes’ to a deserved victory over Abia Warriors, a team he considered a “good side”

“We want to start the season with a good result against Abia Warriors on Sunday in our first league match at Awka. We have all it takes to achieve this season with the new players ready to go. Yes, we understand that our performance in the Lagos preseason tournament did not go down well with our supporters so, we want to start very well this season so as to achieve our set target at the end of the season,” stated the defense marshal.

The former Enyimba marksman added, “I am not underrating our opponent by any chance as any encounter between both sides has never been easy but with what we have in our team, there is no stopping us.”

Recall that in twelve official encounters between the Umuahia-based side and the Enugu landlords, it has been five victories for Rangers, four wins for Abia Warriors, and three matches had ended in draws with the ‘Flying Antelopes’ scoring sixteen times as against eighteen conceded.

Rangers will hope to avoid defeat at home in their league opener which kicks off by 3pm today.