The Nigerian champions crashed out at the preliminary stage of Africa's premier competition after losing the second leg 2-0 in Algiers on Sunday and are out of the competition on a 2-1 aggregate score.
In a reaction to his team's defeat and elimination from the competition, Coach Kennedy Boboye said "The moment we won by just one goal in Uyo on September 12th, I knew it will be difficult for us to get a favourable result in Algiers, but at the same time it wasn't an impossible task for us. After a careful study of the first leg I realized that our opponents (CR Belouizdad) were technically better than us and that was why we came to Algiers with a game plan which unfortunately, didn't work for us.
"Two of my players Charles Okafor and Marshal Johnson had passport issues, one player Denis Nya sustained injury during warm-up and that altered the plans we had. We needed to move Dare Ojo to the centre back position, which he did very well but we missed his experience in the midfield and it affected out game plan.
Boboye added, "Having won the first leg, we knew that they (CR Belouizdad) will come out to attack us so our plans was to get at least a goal in the first half but we came up against a very good team. The way they played, one can tell that they have been playing together for a very long time. The first goal they scored was a good goal but the penalty against us wasn't a good call but that is football.
"We have to go back and start preparing for the new NPFL season and I think that the exposure and experience we have garnered from these two games will help the coaching crew and the players in subsequent outings both in the league and at the continental level" Boboye assured.
The Promise Keepers who won the Nigeria Professional Football League title for the first time in their history in August will return to Uyo on Tuesday September 21st, 2021.
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