"I have to congratulate the guys, I think everyone put a lot of effort" - Amunike on Heartland's first win

After grabbing his first win of the season, the coach of Heartland FC, Emmanuel Amunike expressed his delight with the team's performance and resilience since the start of the season despite their struggles at the start, Nigeriasoccernet.com can report.

Amunike joined Heartland during the pre-season after the team secured an immediate return to the NPFL, buying Beyond the Limit FC promotion slot. However, the team experienced a rough start to the season, going four games without a win, and on Sunday, the team experienced a change of event as the win came in a grand style against Niger Tornadoes.

Speaking on the win, an elated Amunike said: "First of all, I have to congratulate the guys. I think everyone put a lot of effort. The League League is kind of a marathon and when you lose some point or you lose some games, it's a kind of a little bit upset. But we are keen and we are focused in times of what we are trying to do."

"When you look at Heartland last season, a lot happens in Heartland and many players have left. So we're directing the course in times of having younger players that can serve for the future. Also, we all understood that when you are in a period of processing, it takes time for things to really work. But I'm happy for the players. I think also I am happy for the Imo light. We deserve this joy of moment. We have played five games including this, and we have Drew one here and we have lost three and we won one," he added.

"So all we need to do now is to go back and review ourself and look at the areas we continue to improve as a team, knowing that, of course in a team, that will always be moment of mistakes. So those moments of mistakes for me can't a lot and we have to go back. But we are happy generally that we won this game.

"It'll give us a lot of relief in times of our next game coming up against El-Kanemi and then that will give us more confidence going into the game. Some of our players are injured, but they're recovering gradually," the former Super Eagles player concluded.

Oluwayemi Omolagba