Fidelis Ilechukwu is steadily bring Heartland around after the club’s early struggles this season, and later Today, Naze Millionaires will have a go at it again against an in-form Kano Pillars.

Pillars have been on the ascendancy since the return of their inspiration captain, Rabiu Ali, whom Ilechukwu has identified as the game changer.

“We know that Pillars have an advantage and that is Rabiu Ali,” the Heartland FC Coach told brila.net.

“Rabiu Ali comes with a lot of experience and he can win games, he wins fouls, so we need to take care of him if you’ll want to get a result.

“If we silence him we can get a result, but we must score goals, because without scoring we will end up with just a point maybe, So We must also try and score goals.”

Heartland host Pillars at the Dan Anyiam Stadium and a win could send them to within the top five, but the hosts have been hit with injuries to several players.

Ilechukwu predicts his side will struggle to cope with the pile up of injuries.

The team grinded out a 1-0 win on the road last weekend, but the Coach has tempered his expectation of his side hold off Pillars.

“We are coming up gradually and Pillars are also in their best form. But our biggest challenge now is the injury crisis.

“The number of injuries we have now are really worrisome and it bothers me because we must get results in games like this.

“I expect it will be a tough game and we will be under a lot of pressure.”