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Not taking part in Club Championship de-motivated players’

Mar 13, 2014, 10:35 AM | Article By: Cherno Omar Bobb

Abdoulie Bojang, Head Coach, Steve Biko FC, has said that his team’s failure to participate in the Africa Club Championship after being crowned league champions last season ‘definitely de-motivated’ his players, resulting in the poor performance of his squad during the start of the league.

Lie Bojang who was speaking to reporters last Saturday at the Serrekunda East Mini Stadium following his side’s 1-nil win over neighbours Bakau United in the Gambia Football Federation (GFF) first division league game, added that injuries, as well as playing twice a week did also contributed to their poor start in the league.

He said: “Actually, there are so many factors that contributed to the poor performance of the players during the start of the league, which include the injury of players. When we didn’t make it to the Africa Club Championship, that definitely de-motivated the players. We had to have a meeting with them and discuss with them, and now they have forgotten it and have started focusing on our game. The other is lack of having adequate time (playing twice a week) to prepare and rectify our mistakes before the next game”.

He described the game against Bakau United as ‘good from the beginning of the first half to the end of the match’, adding that in their previous two games, they use to settle during the second period, but against Bakau United they settled in the first period and were able to knock the ball and play the type of football they are known for playing.

Bojang further stated that the most important thing for them at the moment is to focus on how to prepare to secure the maximum points in their next game, and noted that “whenever you have a week to prepare, you prepare better, but whenever you play twice a week you cannot sometimes rectify most of your mistakes”.

He added that they know how to approach their next game, but will also work harder at it to be able to secure all three points, because ‘all teams in the league now-a-days are good’.

He said he was also happy with his team playing as a unit, noting that the players knew the importance of the game coming into it, as they (the authorities) had a meeting with the players prior to the encounter.