Our head coach Chris Hughton spoke to the media after the goalless draw against Madagascar on Sunday. The boss touched on the teams inability to punish the hosts despite having a lions share of possession, having players back in the squad for the match in September and the must win against Central African Republic.

Below is the transcript:

On the draw against Madagascar

The game was tough, just as in every game, there’s no easy game on the continent. We had a lot of possession even in the first half but to change the momentum of the game, you needed to score. Because the longer the game goes when you don’t score, you give Madagascar the encouragement. They are playing in front of the home supporters who were cheering them on and they were growing in confidence so at any stage we needed to score to change the feeling of the game. We had a lot possession but we didn’t create enough clear chances and when you are unable to do this, it’s very difficult to win games

On being disappointed

Yes we are very disappointed. We came with an attitude and mindset to win but to win a football match you need to score goals. We found it difficult today. The pitch is difficult, it’s an uneven pitch but it’s the same for both teams and we needed to be forceful in the key areas to create more opportunities to score so the fact that we didn’t score is the most disappointing thing.

Strategy for Central African Republic

Our strategy for the next match is to win. We are playing at home. We know we have to get the result and obviously it’s a game we know the consequences if we don’t win. From here, we have a break. The players will have to go back to their clubs and they will start preseason and we will be ready for the game in September. We have some players missing today so hopefully those players will be available in September. We will be going into another difficult game against Central African Republic and we have to win.

GFA COMMUNICATIONS