Heartland Football Club of Owerri, the Federation Cup defending Champions on Wednesday continued their journey to a successful defence of the trophy they won last year when they defeated Enyimba FC of Aba at the Teslim Balogun Stadium Lagos.
Although, the Naze millionaires were held to a 1 – 1 draw by the newly prompted Premier League side, Nasarawa United in the first game of thePort Harcourtgroup.
Kabiri Umar did put Heartland in front at the 28th minutes of the game only for the well motivated Nasarawa side to get their noses back two minutes after Adepoju Fagbemi converted a scoring chance to keep the group still open for the four teams.
Heartland however still maintains their lead in the group with four points after the second group game between Gombe united and Plateau United ended 1 – 1 too.
The Champions will meanwhile have to avoid a defeat in their last group game today against Gombe United to ensure their passage to the quarter finals. A victory over their opponents will guarantee top spot and a berth in the quarter finals with the second placed team from group C which will be either Sharks or Prime FC who also face each other today to determine second and first position in their group.
Dutch tactition for Heartland team, De’ Kruife had after their second game with Nasarawa boasted that his team is the best in the group and that they are concentrating on winning the cup in other to get back to the continental games.
It was still unconfirmed if the players have received any positive answer concerning their unpaid remaining sign on fees and other entitlements.
