Mansour Jeng, assistant coach of Wallidan, has promised to guide his team to the FA Cup title, saying this year’s FA Cup trophy “belongs” to them.
“We will win it (the FA) and give it to our chief patron Alhagie O.B. Conateh, because it is long time we have not taken a trophy to his house,” he said.
Jeng led the blue boys to a breathtaking 3-2 penalty shootout win over Brikama United at the Serrekunda East Mini-stadium on Wednesday evening.
Having edged pass Brikama United who were tipped to shine after some heroic performances that saw them win their first league title, Wallidan could consider themselves lucky to cross this stage, something Jeng calls as a deserved victory.
Jeng, who was concerned by his players’ lack of consistency in their finishing ability, added: “We created so many chances during the game but the players could not capitalise on them and have vowed to prepare very well for the next FA Cup match.”
He said further: “We played seven games during the league without scoring a goal until our last game against Young Africans when we managed to score two goals.”
He also says his boys played good football in their last two games of the league (against Real De Banjul and Young Africans) but since then the turnout for training “has not be good due to the players engagements in Naweetan”.
Despite all odds, Jeng believes Wallidan is the potential FA Cup winners.
He said, to confirm that viewpoint: “We will go back to the training ground to adjust some little mistakes that happened today so that it will not occur again in out next game.”
Ensa Sambou, head coach of Brikama United, in his comments, said: “We took the game seriously and the players played up to expectations even though we are in the month of Ramadan.
“The boys performed from the beginning to the end of the game but luck was not on our side during the penalty kicks.”
Sambou added: “Our target was to collect the three points to go further in the competition but this was not possible.
He however congratulated Wallidan for emerging victorious and wished them all the best of luck in the competition.
“We need to work very hard now because our players need time to rest and prepare because we have important games ahead of us in the Caf Championship,” he also said, adding: “The aim and target of West Coast Region is to take part in the Caf Club Champions League.”
