Abuja- Kano Pillars’ Technical Adviser, Okey Emordi, on Monday said his team was not humbled by its 1-2 loss to the Flying Eagles at the ongoing Super 4 Invitational Tournament.
Emordi told newsmen at the Abuja National Stadium after their Matchday 2 game that the tie was a good one.
“It wasn’t something we have to lose so much sleep over. It is football, and we will not lie back and start to worry over the loss,’’ the coach said.
He however said the loss could be traced to his players’ underrating their opponents, adding that he was hopeful they would bounce back and even finish among the top three.
“Losing was a bad one for us, but we need to correct our mistakes, and we can end up at worst in the third position at the end of the competition,” the coach said
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the loss to the national under-20 team pegged the 2013/2014 league champions back, after an opening win on Saturday.
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Speaking also on the match, Flying Eagles’ coach Manu Garba said both teams played well but his team were lucky to have emerged victors.
“It was a good game for both sides, but it was more favourable for my side and we were able to entertain the crowd.
“We gave the chance for each player to display his talent. But, besides that, we are still assessing them, and we cannot say that we have a team yet.
“Neither also can we say that we have a team that will represent Nigeria now,’’ he said.
Garba however emphasised the need to reinforce their defence, saying the team’s technical crew has noticed a lot of lapses.
“The main work we have to do now is to strengthen our defence. We saw a lot of mistakes in our two games, and we need to correct those mistakes in our next game,’’ he said.
Speaking also at the post-match conference, team forward Taiwo Awoniyi said his personal performance was poor in the first half of the game.
“I missed a lot of chances in the first half, but in the second half I was able to utilise the scoring chance I got. However, in our next match I believe I will do better,” he said.(NAN)