Akwa United Football Club of Uyo on Wednesday crashed out of the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup competition on a 3-3 aggregate, in spite of beating El Hilal of Sudan 3-1.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 2017 AITEO Cup winners had lost 0-2 in the first leg tie of the play-off round in Omdurman on April 8.
They had needed to win 3-0 or more to turn the tide, but the Sudanese team stunned them by scoring first in the first half in Uyo.
Michael Ibe then went on to score a hat-trick for the hosts in the match played at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, but it proved not to be enough.
Akwa United’s coach, Abdul Makaiba, later told NAN that his boys played wonderfully in spite of failing to advance in the competition.
Maikaiba said: “My boys played wonderfully, if not for the goal scored by the Sudanese. But it is part of the game. We got a lot of chances, but we were able to score only three goals.
“We are out of it but we are not disgraced. If we had scored one goal in Sudan we would have been through.’’
NAN reports that Akwa United had qualified for the second round of 16 by beating Al-Ittihad of Libya 4-3 on aggregate.
They had earlier in the preliminary stage of the competition beaten the Hawks of Gambia 3-2 aggregate.
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