The Coach of Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, Champions Rangers International, Fidelis Ilechukwu has expressed his worries over the poor second leg performance of the team against AS Zilimandjou of Comoros in their first leg, preliminary encounter played in Uyo last Sunday, Sports247 reports.
Rangers showed lots of urgency in the first half and which resulted in a well taken goal by Uwumiro Frank in the 22nd minute, despite creating opportunities in the first half, adding to the number of goals as the first half ended 1-0.
Many expected the momentum to continue after the resumption but the Comoros side came good as the game became balanced and even threatened to score .
Rangers could only scrap through with the solitary first half goal as the goal separated the two teams in the match played at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium .
Coach Ilechukwu in a post-match chat was not happy about how his executed the second half which gave AS Zilimandjou a strong finish to the game.
Ilechukwu said : “It was a game we had control over in the first stanza and could have scored more goals that would have killed any fight back from our opponent, we lowered our guard in the second stanza and they came out to attack but we stood out to see off the encounter.”
The coach however promised to address the faults noticed in the game and sure of qualification into the second round of the preliminary round in the second leg slated for Uyo on Friday.
” We go back to the drawing board to prepare very well for the return leg and we are positive going forward.”
The first leg was played in Uyo at the instance of the home team, AS Zilimandjou after the Confederation of Africa Football failed to approve their stadium in Comoros and they will now play the away leg of the fixture at the same venue with Rangers playing as the host on Friday, August 23, 2024.
