Plateau United head coach Fidelis Ilechukwu says it is difficult to explain how his side got eliminated, despite taking a healthy first leg advantage into their CAF Confederation Cup second leg tie against Al-Akhdar of Libya.
In the first leg of the playoffs at the MKO Abiola stadium in Abuja, Plateau United emerged 4-1 winners.
But the reverse fixture on Wednesday saw their lead wiped out by Al-Akhdar who progressed into the group stage of the Confederation Cup.
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And speaking after the disappointing defeat, Ilechukwu lamented his side’s inability to convert one of the numerous scoring chances that came their way.
“It is a very painful loss especially having a three-goal advantage and played 0-0 in the first half,” Ilechukwu said on Brila FM.
“Most important in football is goals and if a striker can be inside the 18 in an away game, had up to seven chances and could not score one goal then it’s going to be a tough one.
“I know Nigerians are not happy it’s painful and we are sorry. It’s something that is very difficult to explain. All I want to say is that we are sorry.“
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s other representative in the Confederation Cup, Rivers United, advanced into the group stage.
The Stanley Eguma-led side held another Libyan side Al-Nasr to a 1-1 draw in the second leg to qualify 6-1 on aggregate.
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COMMENTS
Sorry is not and excuse. You guys are not good don’t blame Nigeria football federation because that will be your next target.
It is always sorry story for all our club sides in the continent. How come that you
were able to score 4 and conceded 1 in first leg. Imagine, that they could not convert even one out of the so call numerous chances they had. Probably they thought since they have won with such goal margin, that will make them to advance to the next level. It means even if they had advanced, there would have been many stories to tell in all their away matches. But thank God that this time around one was able to advance to the group stage which had eluded us for some years. Rivers United should be wise and take lesson from what happened to them in the previous year and Plateau United this time around oh!!!. Even if it is half chance you have,
convert it. Because the number of goals scored matters.
I think the coach is either inexperience or incompetent, you won 4-1 in your home & you played goaless in the first half of an away match, what stopped the coach from switching to total defensive style in the second half when you have only 45mins left to progress to the next stage, or will the coach be arrested if he switch to 5 defense, 4 midfelders and just a striker. The coach should be held responsible for this failure.