Aiteo Cup: Bendel Insurance struggle to beat amateur side in Calabar

The Assistant coach of Bendel Insurance, Greg Ihenuba has admitted that his team had a very difficult match in UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar, Wednesday evening.

The Bendel Insurance team struggled against their amateur opponent in the first half and missed many opportunities to score goals.

Bendel Insurance FC squared up against Ahudiya FC and defeated them by a lone goal in the round of 32 of the ongoing Federation Cup, also known as the Aiteo Cup.

Explaining the outcome of the match, Ihenuba said his team was coming from a difficult game in the weekend and had to bring in some fresh legs which affected the team’s cohesion.

Speaking with journalists, he said, “You observed that we got some chances in the first half but didn’t convert them. That was not okay because the FA Cup matches could go anywhere and if you don’t take your chances when you get them, you may pay dearly.”

On his part, Smart Eleanya, one of the officials of Ahudiya FC disclosed that his team did its best, adding that there must be a winner and a loser.

“Some people expected that we would be beaten silly because we are a very young club but losing by a lone goal, I believe we did well.

“We lost today, that does not mean we are giving up, we will continue to push to be a better team,” he said.

In the second half, Bendel Insurance continued wasting their chances, until Sariki Ismail in Jersey number 7 capitalised on a defensive error by the Ahudiya back-line to hit the net in the 75th minute.

The later part of the match saw the team from Abiriba in Abia State come all out to see if they could draw level but met with stiff resistance from the Edo team.

While Bendel Insurance defeated Abubakar Bukola Saraki, (ABS) FC by a lone goal in the round of 64, Ahudiya FC proceeded to the round of 32 by defeating Abia Warriors in Aba by 5 goals to 4 in a penalty shoot-out after the game ended one goal apiece