Fatai Osho hails Elkanah despite Lobi loss
Akwa United head coach Fatai Osho was impressed by goalkeeper Godgift Elkanah’s performance in his side’s 0-2 loss to Lobi Stars in their final group game at the Naija Super 8 on Wednesday.
Elkanah, making his first appearance under Osho and his first for the club since January asserted himself well in the game and could do nothing to prevent the two goals he conceded in the first half, prompting Osho to hail him despite the loss to Lobi Stars.
Lobi winger Joseph Atule finally found his scoring touch, scoring both goals of the contest; first bellying home Waheed Adebayo’s cross to give Abubakar Mohammed Bala’s side the lead before finishing beyond Elkanah from point blank range.
Osho told www.aclsports.com after the game that he was impressed by the goalkeeper.
“I’m not a goalkeeper’s trainer, we have a specialist in that area that will assess him better but as the head coach, you need to have an idea of every department of the team.
“He did very well, I’m quite impressed except the goalkeeper’s trainer tells me something different, I think he’s done well. Most of the balls we gave to him, he treated them very well and that gave confidence to the defenders but unfortunately, some of them were not at the standard we wanted them to be,” said Osho.
The Promise Keepers gave minutes to up to nine new players in the game with some measuring up to expected standards while other did not.
Osho is willing to give the players enough time to prove themselves worthy of playing for the club and fitting into his own philosophy but the former Enyimba head coach already gave a pass mark to Elkanah despite the loss to Lobi Stars.
“For the goalkeeper, he did very well, I’m quite impressed and that should be a yes for him to play for us in the coming season,” said Osho.
Akwa United will play their semi-final match at the Naija Super 8 tournament on Friday at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena against either Sporting Lagos or Katsina United depending on the result between both sides on Thursday.
