I wish we didn’t lose 4-0 in the first leg, says Pillars goalkeeper

Kano Pillars goalkeeper, John Lawrence, blames the team’s ouster in the second round of the CAF Champions League to the 4-0 loss in the first leg.

Pillars defeated Moghreb Athletic Tetouan (MAT) 2-1 at the Sani Abacha Stadium but it wasn’t enough to overturn the embarrassing score line in Morocco and qualify for the group stage of the competition.

In Saturday’s second leg game, MAT stretched their aggregate lead to 5-0 after going ahead condemning the host to score six goals in less than sixty minutes.

They could only manage two and crashed out 5-2 on aggregate.

Lawrence, who let in five goals over both legs, rue the capitulation in Morocco.

“It’s quite unfortunate to be honest. Overturning the deficit was a huge task on its own and then we conceded in the first half, which made it even more difficult,” he said.

“I really wish we didn’t lose by 4-0 in the first leg, maybe we would have gotten the result we needed on Saturday.

“It is quite unfortunate that we are out because we wanted to make the group stage at the very least but now we have to wait till next year which is painful.”

It’s quite unfortunate really, but it’s an improvement, by one step, for Pillars who were bundled out of the competition at the preliminary stage by AS Vita Club of DR Congo last season.

Vita won the first leg 3-1 but lost 2-1 in Kano to advance 4-3 on aggregate.