My Team Was Gallant In Defeat... Abdul Maikaba

My team was gallant in defeat - Maikaba .... Every player gave his 100% today . After losing 2-0 to Al Hilal in the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup play-off tie in Omdurman, Akwa united knew that the second leg in Uyo was always going to be a difficult task but they were determined to give it their very best. It however started poorly for the home team as goalkeeper Olorunleke Ojo's dropped ball fell nicely for the visotors to take an early lead. That means Akwa needed to score four goals in 87 minutes to have any chance of advancing into the group stage of the CAF Confederation cup. That was an herculean task but the promise keepers knew they made a promise to Nigerians and were determined to fulfil that. Midfielder Michael Ibe turned out their hero on the day scoring an hatrick just before the final quarter of the game but his colleagues, especially the front men failed to convert begging chances as the game ended 3-1 in favour of the home side and 4-3 on aggregate to send the Sudanese club, through to the group stage. Chief coach, Abdul Maikaba has however praised his team for putting up a gallant fight from start to finish, insisting that the early goal destroyed their game plan. " We gave it our all, we are out but not down. We fought a good fight but lost to our mistakes over two legs.. I will not want to blame anyone for the defeat today he said. « It was a great team effort and as you can see, the players were united in battle. We will live to fight another day but we have taken the positives from our ouster knowing that we may need this someday. On why he left Okechukwu Gabriel on the pitch for the duration of the game, the coach said he did what we told him to do, except that the goals didnt come. "He had a hand in all our dangerous attacking moves, caused our opponents lots of problems in defense but his final ball let him down today. Remember he was our key man in the first leg, remember too, the role he played in CHAN, where his last minute goal sent the Sudanese crawling in that pulsating match. Majority of the Al Hilal players know what he can do on his day so they were all out for him. He could have capped another brilliant performance with a goal today. Unfortunately, that didnt happen so we have accepted our situation in good faith he concluded".