BY Femi Atolagbe
|
T he head coach of Akure City Football Academy, Banjo Adepoju has hailed the team spirit of his players, saying the 2022 AITEO Cup journey as fulfilling.
Adepoju stated this after his side progress in the competition were halted at the Round-16 following a 1-0 defeat in the hands of Lobi Stars in Enugu.
He said :”We have not played in the Round-16 of the Aiteo Cup before. So going as far as that means a lot to us.
Although we hoped to go farther, we will learn from this exposure and we are confident of what will come in the future_ He added.
Akure City were aiming for another milestone in the competition, but fell short against the NPFL side in the 19th minute when Adams Olamilekan capitalized on a sloppy defending and put the ball beyond the reach of Rahman Ibrahim in goal.
Ibrahim was further called into action by Lobi and he wasn’t to be beaten again. He denied Godfrey Utim from a one-on-one situation just before halftime and also made another excellent save to keep out Solomon Kwambe’s freekick in the second half.
Having being kept in check by some contentious calls, a golden opportunity to level up presented itself in the final moments of the game, but Damilola Adekayero couldn’t compose his effort after being set up by Kingsley Ogunmola.
It was a test of character for the bunch of the players that were playing in the Round-16 of the competition for the first time in the club’s history, and they proved to be worthy opponents for Lobi, reducing them to few chances while carving them open as
AITEO Cup round of 16 means a lot to us -Akure City Coach, Adepoju
