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CAFCL: Hard work, optimism helped us advance -Lobi Stars coach Ogbeide

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solomon ogbeide

Lobi Stars head coach, Solomon Ogbeide has revealed how the right attitude, hard work and staying optimistic ensured his side’s victory in the first round of the CAF Champions League.

The Nigerian champions successfully booked their spot in the group stages after they earned a 2-0 win against Kenyan champions, Gor Mahia, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu on Saturday.

Trailing 3-1 from the first leg at the Kasarani International Stadium in Nairobi, Lobi needed at least two unreplied goals to seal their place in the lucrative group stage of the continental competition.

The 2-0 win meant the Nigerian side advanced on the away goals rule as aggregate scores stand at 3-3.

Speaking to the media, coach Ogbeide praised his side’s hard work as the reason they were able to overturn the deficit to advance in the competition.

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“When we went to Kenya, we knew nothing about our opponents besides scanty information we got about them,” said Ogbeide.

“We went to Nairobi very prepared but we could get it right there. They ought not to have beaten us the way they did at the end of the first 90 minutes and it was the reason I said it was based on our attitude that we lost the game and not that they were the better team.

“We worked on it psychologically. We looked at the match tapes and we saw where we faltered. We got their strong and weak points and we worked on them. When you have faith in your work you will remain very optimistic. I was very optimistic that we would win.

“It is football for you where blames and credit are apportioned in almost equal proportion. If I win or lose I take responsibility. There were some obvious mistakes in Nairobi and I corrected them. Our own kind of correction is to guard against further recurrence and it is not to crucify them.”

Lobi Stars will now look to fight all the way to become the second Nigerian club after Enyimba to win the CAF Champions League.

 

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