By Daily Sports on October 18, 2021

Enyimba coach Finidi George talked about how Enyimba defeated Diambars in Saturday’s Caf Confederation Cup second round, first leg encounter.

The former Ajax star – who replaced Fatai Osho in September – began his coaching career on a winning note as the two-time African kings picked up a 1-0 away win over the Senegalese side.

Despite the hosts dominating ball possession, it was the Nigerian top-flight side who had the last laugh after winning a penalty three minutes from full-time as Gabriel Orok was brought down in the box.

Super-sub Cyril Olisema Djiba stepped up to take the ensuing kick which he smartly fired past goalkeeper Francois Djiba.

In his post-match reaction, the tactician explained how his men scaled Diambars’ hurdles, notwithstanding their ability to play competitive matches like their hosts.

“Personally, I am happy that we played this way. We knew this team [Diambars] are a very good team technically,” George told Enyimba website.

“They pass the ball very well but at the same time we kept our composure, we kept our formation and then tried to hold them so that they cannot score an easy goal.

“In the second half we still played that way trying to contain them and the tempo dropped and that helped us as well to pass the ball a little bit more in the middle and gave us that opportunity with the few changes we made.”

“We knew we cannot match them because I think they’ve started their league already, they’ve played a couple of games, really competitive games and they have that match rhythm,” he continued.

“So, we knew if we could play to our formation, not give them that space, which I think they had in the first twenty or twenty-five minutes that they dominate.

“After that, the tempo dropped a little bit and that permitted us to play our football a little bit.

“We saw that in the second half most players were tired after 60 minutes and we made some changes and brought in some fresh legs which really helped to give us that penalty.”

The return leg will be held in Aba on October 24 with the winners on aggregate progressing to the play-off round where they must negotiate their way past one of the 16 losers of the Caf Champions League’s second round to reach the group stage. (Goal)

•PHOTO: Enyimba Head Coach Finidi George

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 18, 2021

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