Draw With MAS A Setback —Sunshine Coach

Coach of Sunshine Stars of Akure, Gbenga Ogunbote, has described the draw game his team had with MAS Fez of Morocco in Saturdayâ€s CAF Confederation Cup at the Dipo Dina Stadium, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria, as a temporary setback for his team.

A more determined Moroccan team held the Nigerian side to a 1-1 draw. MAZ drew the first blood in the 51st minutes of the match through Chemms Eddine Chitobi, while the Nigerian team were lucky to equalise in the dying minutes of the crucial game through Ajani Ibrahim who scored in a goal mouth scramble.

Ogunbote, who remains hopeful that his team still have the chance of qualifying to the semi final of the Confederation Cup with two matches left in the ongoing group stage, told P.M.Sports after the match on Saturday night that the draw was a major setback for Sunshine, who prepared to win the match at home.

“The result was a setback for me and the team,” said the coach of a team who have not lost a match at the Dipo Dina Stadium since the start of the continental tourney. “We prepared to win the match, unfortunate we had to settle for a draw. This was a challenge for us to work harder in the remaining two matches of the competition.

“I still remain hopeful that we can top the table or at least settle for a second place which will still guarantee us a ticket for the semi final of the competition by the grace of God,” he said.

Ogunbote said: “Everything just went wrong in the match. The defensive error from Onyi Chiemeka, a last man standing, who chested the ball in front of two strikers of our opponents, was responsible for the goal of MAS and so sad that we have to lose a crucial penalty in the second half.

” One point we got from the match was just a consolation, we will go back to the drawing board and develop strategise for our next match against the Congolese team on Saturday, 11 September in an away game.”

—Taiwo Adelu,/Ijebu Ode