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The 'young blood' of Ikorodu City will return to the drawing board after showing a glimpse of what they are capable of as MFM FC ended their FA Cup aspirations in painful fashion.
Ikorodu City boss Abiodun Obafemi MON says the inability of his youthful side to take their chances cost them the game against Mountain of Fire and Miracles, MFM FC.
MFM came from a goal down to beat Ikorodu City 3-1 to advance to the semi-final of the Golden Winners Bet Lagos FA Cup on Monday evening.
Ikorodu City’s outstanding captain Sebastian gave City a first-half lead with a fantastic strike from 25 yards out.
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Ikorodu had chances to add to the score line but missed as many as five glaring opportunities, notable amongst them was the sitter missed by Hassan after a bizarre pass from the MFM defense.
MFM weathered the storm, inspired by Muyiwa Alade fired the Olukoya Boys to the last four with an incredible second-half hat-trick.
Speaking to Pulse Sports Nigeria after the match, Ikorodu City's coach Abiodun MON blamed the result on inexperience and the inability of his boys to take their chances.
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“This is a typical FA Cup game,’’ Olufemi said. “If you have your chances and you don’t take them, you get punished.”
“And moreover, we played against a very experienced team, more experienced than my team. Look at the boys we paraded, these are young blood and honestly, there are lessons to be “learned. The lessons we learnt (against MFM) we are taking with us.”
Ikorodu City learns vital lessons
City was clearly the dominant side and created enough chances to have punished MFM but failed to convert any of them.
Speaking further, coach Abiodun alluded that his team has learnt some vital lessons after taking their feet off the gas and conceding goals he described as ‘gifts’.
“First and foremost, you saw the match, the first chance our opponent got they score. After scoring our first goal, we had a couple of chances to have made it 3-0 or 4-0. If i am leading 2-0, i trust my team to make the necessary changes to make sure we consolidated. But then, when you get a chance, you must convert it because goal is power.”
“Secondly, you don’t take your eyes off the ball. The game is not over until it’s over. If you are dominating one moment and the next moment you lose concentration, you get punished. We lost concentration in defense and that explains the first and second goals. Ordinarily, these are not the typical goal my team concedes. But okay, we take these lessons, vital lessons.”
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No outstanding player from MFM
Asked to reveal which of the players from MFM impressed him the most, coach Abiodun was clearly not impressed by any of the individuals, including hat-trick hero, Alade.
“Looking at the MFM team, i expected the way they played. They played as a team, very difficult to pick one player as the most outstanding.”
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“Honestly, those goals, as far as i’m concerned, were gifts. Anybody can score.”
What’s next for the young City side?
Ikorodu City will switch focus to the NNL where they take on Osun United at home and coach Abiodun has promised fans to expect ‘improvements’.
“Improvements, that’s the only thing i can promise,” he added when asked what the fans can expect from his team.
“If you look at the age of the players we are parading, this is their first experience at this level. 99.9% of my players are academy players and this is a team that is less than six months old. So, this is a learning curve for us and we are building a team. Honestly, i know we would continue to get better and better.”
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