Enyimba’s captain Austin Oladapo has revealed how he bounced back from his penalty miss to lead his team to victory against ES Setif of Algeria on Sunday.
Oladapo who had a 100 percent record from the spot this season, saw ES Setif goalkeeper save his penalty and denied him the opportunity to restore parity for his side after Monsef Bakrar’s had given the visitors the lead in the 13th minute.
The former Gombe United midfielder later hit the equalizer with a trademark thunderbolt from 25 yards just before the halftime whistle.
In a chat with brila.net after the game, Oladapo insisted that the earlier miss hard no impact on his confidence.
“It’s difficult for most players; after missing a penalty everybody was hoping you score. Some players might not be able to pick themselves up in the game and their shoulders drop. But to me, I just saw it as a normal thing because even big players do miss penalties, there’s nothing to it. Sometimes you score and other times you miss some, it’s part of football.”
“So when I missed I didn’t feel any guilt at all; I brushed it off, continued playing, and then my goal came.” He told brila.net.
Oladapo’s effort lifted his team confidence and Tosin Omoyele went on completed the come back in the 60th minute.
Enyimba however labored to get the three points over the line as they failed to get the third goal that will afford breathing space with 30 minutes left.
“We were hoping to get a third goal and the opponents were coming at us, but we had a penalty from Anayo, the referee waved it.”
“We had hoped he would give it and we could have topped our goals to three, but he didn’t. However, we thank God because everything worked in our favor,” he concluded.
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