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Soccer News of Monday, 3 March 2003

Source: gna

Coach Attuquayefio disappointed

"Sir" Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, Helmsman of Liberty Professionals said after his side 0-1 lost to Asante Kotoko on Saturday that the defeat, his second in the LG Top Four Tournament, has dealt a big blow to his reputation.

The coach, one time Confederation of African Football (CAF) best coach on the continent after he had led Accra Hearts of Oak to conquer Africa, suffered a humiliating defeat a week earlier at the hands of his former club (Hearts) 2-0 and has subsequently pinned the club at the bottom of the tournament with no point.

He told the GNA Sports that he was unhappy with the results the team has been producing lately especially over the last two weeks, "it's a blow to my reputation as a renowned coach".

The Coach said however, that he has learnt his lessons, that it was not prudent to field such young and inexperience players against big teams like Hearts and Kotoko.

He said it was unfortunate that in his quest to give the boys the necessary exposure before the Premier League commences, the team should suffer for it.

Coach Attuquayefio, onetime helmsman of the senior national team, Black Stars, said, "I have the strongest conviction that it is not over until is all over; we would continue to work on our mistakes until we get the required results".

He said if the right thing is done the necessary ingredients included in the squad, "liberty can bounce back and possibly win the LG Top Four Tournament".

The coach conceded however, that the absence of the team's utility star John Painstil who is on a four-month loan with Haifa of Israel, has affected the performance of the team. But, he quickly added, "I feel his absence has also afforded other budding talents to be exposed".

"Though we are losing now, I'm hopeful that by the time the league commences, we would have built a formidable team to beat everybody.