Beyond Limits Football Academy Coach Olumide Ajibolade commended his boys for their determination and fighting spirit but said he was upset with the loss to Sporting Lagos.
The Ikenne, Ogun State-based team have been impressive throughout the tournament, capping it up with a victory in the quarter-final over Right to Dream, who were last year’s champion.
But their hope of making it to the final was dashed following an exhilarating 4-5 semi-final loss to fellow Nigerian side, Sporting Lagos.
Ajibolade expressed disappointment with the type of goals they conceded citing communication breakdown and defensive lapses.
“I was upset with the type of goals we conceded,” Olumide Ajibolade told Myleaguwire.com in a post-match interview.
Asked how he sums up the performance, he said: “It is unlike us. Maybe the occasion was affecting communication in the line of defence. It is not numbers that defend it is about communication, positioning and mentality. We lacked a few of these parameters during these moments.”
“Most importantly it gives us a lot of room to improve especially in the line of defence for a set piece because they scored five goals in an almost similar fashion and the boys could not adapt to it.”
Beyond Limits had maintained an unbeaten run and were full of confidence ahead of the semi-final with about 14 goals scored already before the match against Sporting who were also unbeaten.
The first half of the match saw Beyond Limits trailing 1-3 before restoring parity within the first fourteen minutes of play in the second half. Five minutes later, Lucky John put Sporting ahead while Kparobo Arierhi made it 4-4. Nazir Ishak’s 54th-minute goal put the nail to the coffin to end Beyond Limits’ quest for a place in the final.
“The boys tried to fight back every time. The resilience is encouraging, they showed that they don’t die easily, it’s never say die.”
“Too many limitations in the game but we were trying to go again, we are so excited about this group of players and we can hopefully we can take that as a positive.”
“Last year we lost in the quarter-finals and this year in the semis, that’s progression. Hopefully in future tournaments, they can bring all these lessons forward.”
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