Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan coach, Gbenga Ogunbote has confessed that the team’s poor form in away matches spoilt their aspiration for a continental spot this season in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL).
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Despite getting a 1-0 victory over Sporting Lagos FC on the last day of the season this past Sunday, The Oluyole Warlords ended just a rung outside the qualification zone for next season’s CAF Champions League.
Rangers International of Enugu had already won the title with a match to spare the previous weekend, thereby leaving the second and third positions open in the last two continental spots, and 3SC were among the three contenders.
Sadly for Ibadan football fans, Remo Stars of Ikenne clinched second place on the log, while Enyimba of Aba finished third, thereby leaving 3SC ruing how they missed out on what could have been a long awaited return to the continental terrain.
The anti-climactic end to the season has now left speculation hanging over Ogunbote’s future with the Oyo State-owned outfit, but the veteran tactician disclosed that he has already been offered a new deal by the club’s management.
Ogunbote retorted at length, “My contract has expired, but they have put up offers. Until we get to the conclusive aspect, that’s when we can say okay.
“For now, the season is over, and we are looking at what went wrong. I believe we got it wrong on some of the occasions, especially in our away matches, and we didn’t start well.
“If you look at the end of the first round, we were in the 11th or 12th position, and that really had a great toll on us. In the second half, we were able to pick up, but, unfortunately, we had some losses on the road.
“There were some games we lost on the road that, ordinarily, if we had got a point, it would have made a difference.”
He concluded by acknowledging that Rangers, which happen to be one of his former clubs, were at their best and deserved to be crowned NPFL champions for 2023/2024.
“Rangers were outstanding; give it to them. They worked for it. They have a good team and a solid coach. That’s a team that knows what it takes to win the league,” Ogunbote concluded, as he eulogised The Flying Antelopes.
