Head Coach of Akwa United Fatai Osho has said that the outcome of his side’s defeat to Enyimba International in a pre-season friendly was not important as the opportunity of assessing his new team’s readiness for the new season.
Three first-half goals by Alalibo Somiari, Joseph Atule and Chijioke Mbaoma gave Enyimba the lead with Rilwan Sadiq’s second half goal for Akwa United coming only as a consolation goal in a pre-season friendly at the Uyo township stadium, Wednesday afternoon.
Coach Fatai maintained that the essence of the game was to try out his tactical approach with some new players against the league champions as they continue their preparations for the 2023-2024 football season.
“We are not necessarily looking at the outcome of this preseason game but we were more interested in our tactical approach and the performance of our players against a team like Enyimba. From my assessment, we made some mistakes in the first-half, my players were not aggressive enough, we created paradise for Enyimba and we paid for it.
“In the second half, we made some changes and took control of the game, created lots of scoring chances but we couldn’t overturn the first half result. Our finishing was not good and that is the most important lesson we have learned from this game and I’m happy that we are already working on our finishing which we are going to continue and hopefully we will sort that out in some friendly games before the commencement of the new season”.
Coach Fatai observed that there are some areas in his team that he needs to work on and assures that his team will be in good shape in time for the 2023-24 season.
