DEUTSCH LAMENTS MISSED CHANCES IN ‘PAINFUL’ DRAW AGAINST KUN KHALIFAT
Head Coach Emmanuel Deutsch has decried Enyimba’s missed chances in the 1-1 draw against struggling Kun Khalifat in Aba on Sunday, describing the outcome as ‘very painful’.
After the hosts squandered so many opportunities, it was the visitors who took the lead against the run of play when striker James Ekebuike scored a brilliant solo goal in the 38th minute.
Not to be beaten at home for the fourth time this season, Enyimba fought back and leveled late on through veteran forward Ekene Awazie, who fired in a rebounded shot from Chinedu Ufere in the 86th minute.
Speaking after the match, which was his first at home, the Cameroonian tactician was left disappointed that his boys could only convert one of the numerous scoring chances that came their way, and also blamed the visitors for time-wasting.
“It’s very painful – we missed so many opportunities to score goals,” the former Abia Warriors gaffer said after the match. “We missed so many goals in the first half.
“When we missed so many goals, they had one opportunity, they converted it. Coming back became very difficult for us, because they were wasting time.
“We played more than 60 minutes in the second half because their goalkeeper (Nsikak Akpan) spent more than 22 minutes on the floor, wasting time. He was not cautioned. But I will not judge anybody.
Deutsch added that he is confident of recovering the lost points away from home.
“I know I’ve lost two points from the match, but I can still collect it from away,” he added. “I’m optimistic that I will pick some points away, maybe win away. Why not! If we did it against Rivers United, we can do it elsewhere.
“The good thing is that we played good positional football. The opponents didn’t allow the game to flow with their rough tackles and time-wasting antics.
“If you observed well, we had only one yellow card in the entire match, but they had nearly 10. That’s not football. We played to win, not to waste time.”