Special Competition: Akakpo Patron refutes claims of Kotoko 'lack of motivation' in victory over Aduana Stars

Published on: 01 April 2019
Special Competition: Akakpo Patron refutes claims of Kotoko 'lack of motivation' in victory over Aduana Stars
Akakpo Patron

Deputy Asante Kotoko coach Raphael Akakpo Patron has rejected suggestions that his side were not motivated for the Normalisation Committee's Special Competition following their painful exit from the CAF Confederation Cup.

The Porcupine Warriors laboured to defeat Aduana Stars 1-0 in the opening fixture of the Special Competition on at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Sunday.

A section of their fans believe the team's poor showing was as a result of their elimination from the Confederation Cup.

The Kumasi-based outfit failed to advance to the quarterfinals stage of CAF's second-tier competition after losing 2-1 to Zambian giants ZESCO United in the final match of the group stage a fortnight ago.

However, coach Akakpo has dismissed the notion, claiming that his charges had a bit off-colour day but promised to improve in their subsequent encounters.

"We didn’t struggle for motivation in the competition. As a matter of fact once we know we’re out of the Confederation Cup we knew there’s a competition ahead of us which will give us another platform that we have to play to give us the chance to represent the nation in another CAF competition so the motivation factor is already there and for us as technical team we allow to these players for the past days concerning the how important this competition is," coach Patron stated in his post-match interview.

"So I can say the players are also ready but it’s only that this afternoon we probably didn’t perform to the standards our fans were excepting but then we’ll learn from our mistakes ahead of the subsequent games."

Asante Kotoko are occupying 2nd on the Zone A table with three points, same number of points as leaders AshantiGold but with inferior goal difference.

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