Rangers International Football Club of Enugu on Sunday defeated visiting Union Sportive Madinet Bel Abbes (USMBA) 2-0 to progress to the second Round of 16 in the 2018/2019 CAF Confederation Cup.
Rangers only needed a victory of any kind over their guests to advance, as the first leg match of the fixture in Algeria had ended goalless about a week ago.
And they did it without self-imposed pressure, as Bright Silas’ brace in the first half gave them comfort.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Silas scored his first goal in the 6th minute and completed his brace in the 45th minute.
NAN reports further that Rangers have now advanced to the competition’s next round, whose matches have been scheduled for January.
From there they can advance to the competition’s group stage which begins in February.
Meanwhile, speaking after the match, Rangers’ Head Coach Olugbenga Ogungote gave God all the glory for seeing them through to the next round.
“The goal margin would have been much if we had converted half of the goal scoring chances that came our way. But we are going work more on that.
“Even though our opponents were no pushovers, as they came out after the break to fight for their survival, but we still did better to hold on.
“However, we still have much to do in terms of coordination, and Rangers is still a club in progress as we have new players.
“As the competition progresses, the players will get familiar with my football philosophy, and I hope the players will do better in the next round,’’ he said.
Ogunbote added that his players performed well with much exchange of passes and promised more of that brand of football from the team.
“Before now we had only 18 players successfully registered and to choose from that was difficult. But now we have a full house with 23 good players.
“We have up to two players each in every department to choose from and for the fact that we have kept them together with the first successful 18 players gave us more option today.
“In today’s (Sunday’s) match when we had three new players in the team, they did well and that was good,’’ the coach said.
Ogunbote then praised the club’s supporters for staying solidly behind the team since the beginning of the continental competition.
He urged them to do the same when the 2018/2019 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) begins in January.(NAN)
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